The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
material
breach of its obligations under successive mandatory UN
Security
Council
resolutions;
•
regret that
despite a sustained diplomatic effort by Her Majesty’s Government
it
had not
proved possible to secure a second resolution in the UN because
one
Permanent
Member of the Security Council made plain in public its intention
to
use its
veto whatever the circumstances;
•
note the
opinion of the Attorney General that, Iraq having failed to comply
and
Iraq being
at the time of resolution 1441 and continuing to be in material
breach,
the
authority to use force under resolution 1441 has revived and so
continued
that
day;
•
believe that
the United Kingdom must uphold the authority of the United
Nations
as set out
in resolution 1441 and many resolutions preceding it, and
therefore
support the
decision of Her Majesty’s Government that the United
Kingdom
should use
all means necessary to ensure the disarmament of Iraq’s
weapons
of mass
destruction;
•
offer
wholehearted support to the men and women of Her Majesty’s
Armed
Forces on
duty in the Middle East;
•
in the
event of military action require that, on an urgent basis, the
United
Kingdom
should seek a new Security Council resolution that would
affirm
Iraq’s
territorial integrity, ensure rapid delivery of humanitarian
relief, allow for
the
earliest possible lifting of UN sanctions, an international
reconstruction
programme,
and the use of all oil revenues for the benefit of the Iraqi
people
and endorse
an appropriate post-conflict administration for Iraq, leading to
a
representative
government which upholds human rights and the rule of law
for
all
Iraqis;
•
welcome the
imminent publication of the Quartet’s Road Map as a
significant
step to
bringing a just and lasting peace settlement between Israelis
and
Palestinians
and for the wider Middle East region, and endorse the role
of
Her
Majesty’s Government in actively working for peace between
Israel
897.
In his
statement opening the debate, Mr Blair set out his position on
the need for
898.
Mr Blair
told the House it faced a “tough choice” between standing down
British
troops and
turning back, and holding firm to “the course we have set”; and
that he
believed
“passionately” in the latter. That mattered because the outcome
would not just
determine
the fate of the Iraqi regime and the Iraqi people, but
would:
“…
determine the way in which Britain and the world confront the
central security
threat of
the 21st century, the development of the United Nations, the
relationship
326
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 18 March
2003, column 760.
327
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 18 March
2003, columns 760-774.
560