The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
922.
Reflecting the
strategy he had adopted, Mr Blair stated that the way to
deal
with the US
was “not rivalry, but partnership”. Europe should have said to the
US
in September
2002:
“We
understand your strategic anxiety over terrorism and weapons of
mass
destruction
and we will help you meet it. We will mean what we say in any
resolution
we pass and
will back it with action if Saddam fails to disarm
voluntarily.”
923.
In return,
Europe should have asked:
“… that the
US should indeed choose the UN path and you [the US]
should
recognise
the fundamental overriding importance of restarting the Middle
East
Peace
Process, which we will hold you to.
“That would
have been the right and responsible way for Europe and
America
to treat
each other … and it is a tragedy that it has not happened
…”
924.
Mr Blair
stated that “what happens after any conflict in Iraq” was of
“critical
significance”.
There was a chance to unify around the United Nations and a
UN
resolution:
“… should
provide for the proper governance of Iraq … protect totally the
territorial
integrity
of Iraq. And that … oil revenues … should be put in a trust fund
for the Iraqi
people
administered through the UN.”
925.
Mr Blair
set out the abuses of Saddam Hussein’s regime and stated that
his
removal was
the “only true hope” for the Iraqi people.
926.
Concluding his
speech, Mr Blair stated:
“If this
House now demands that … British troops are pulled back … what
then? …
Saddam …
will feel strengthened beyond measure … other states … will take it
that
the will
confronting them is decaying and feeble …
…
“… In this
dilemma, no choice is perfect, no choice is ideal, but on this
decision
hangs the
fate of many things … To retreat now … would put at hazard all that
we
hold
dearest. To turn the United Nations back into a talking shop; to
stifle the first
steps of
progress in the Middle East; to leave the Iraqi people to the mercy
of events
over which
we would have relinquished all power to influence for the better
…
“This is
not the time to falter. This is the time … to give a lead: to show
that we will
stand up
for what we know to be right; to show that we will confront the
tyrannies
and
dictatorships … to show, at the moment of decision that we have the
courage
to do
the right thing.”
566