The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
1036.
In his memoir,
Mr Annan wrote:
“The
decision by the United States and its allies to proceed with the
invasion of Iraq
without
Security Council authorisation was a defeat for all of us who had
sought to
ensure that
Iraq’s defiance of the United Nations was met by a unified and
effective
response.
But it was a vindication, too, of principle over power. Members of
the
Council,
including close allies and neighbours of the United States, had
insisted on
the
prerogative of the United Nations Security Council to decide under
international
law whether
a member state was in material breach of the Council’s resolutions,
and
what the
consequences should be.”349
1037.
Shortly before
midnight on 19 March, the US informed Sir David Manning
that
there was
to be a change to the plan and US air strikes would be launched at
0300 GMT
1038.
Early on the
morning of 20 March, US forces crossed into Iraq and seized
the
port area
of Umm Qasr.351
1039.
Mr Straw
told the Cabinet on 20 March that inspections had not produced
the
disarmament
of Iraq and that Dr Blix had told the Security Council on 19
March that Iraq
had “failed
to produce assurance of its disarmament”.352
1040.
Mr Blair
concluded that the Government:
“… should
lose no opportunity to propagate the reason, at every level and
as
widely as
possible, why we had arrived at a diplomatic impasse, and why it
was
necessary
to take action against Iraq. France had not been prepared to
accept
that Iraq’s
failure to comply with its obligations should lead to the use of
force to
1041.
The invasion
of Iraq is addressed in Section 8. The continuing discussions
about
the
planning and preparations for a post-conflict Iraq and the UK’s
role in that are
addressed
in Section 6.5.
349
Annan,
K. Interventions:
A Life In War And Peace. Allen Lane,
2012.
350
Letter
Manning to McDonald, 20 March 2003, ‘Iraq’.
351
Ministry of
Defence, Operations
in Iraq: Lessons for the Future, December
2003, page 12.
352
Cabinet
Conclusions, 20 March 2003.
353
Cabinet
Conclusions, 20 March 2003.
586