The Report of the Iraq Inquiry

This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own

citizens … This is a regime that agreed to international inspections – then kicked out

the inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilised world.

“States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to

threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction these

regimes pose a grave and growing danger.”83

168.  President Bush’s speech prompted a major public debate on both sides of the

Atlantic about policy towards Iraq.

169.  There were increasing indications that key figures in the US Administration were

considering military action to achieve regime change in Iraq and an emphasis on the

potential nexus for the fusion of WMD proliferation and terrorism.

170.  On 13 February, Sir Christopher Meyer, British Ambassador to the US, advised that

the hawks in Washington felt that they had won the argument about the need for military

action; and that the US might want to issue an ultimatum on inspections but set the bar

so high that Iraq would never comply.84 The US could want UK endorsement for their

vision by mid-March.

171.  Mr William Ehrman, FCO Director International Security, reported that a meeting

with Sir David Manning “and some others” had discussed Sir Christopher Meyer’s

telegram “and the question of legal considerations related to military action against WMD

proliferation”.85 Mr Ehrman said he had outlined the legal difficulty in trying to argue that

WMD development posed an “imminent threat”.

172.  President Bush’s speech, Sir Christopher’s telegram and Mr Ehrman’s report

of the discussion, and the development of UK thinking, are covered in more detail in

Section 3.2.

173.  Mr Tom McKane, Deputy Head of OD Sec from 1999 to 2002, told the Inquiry

that a meeting in No.10 on 19 February (see Section 3.2) had commissioned “a large

number of papers … for the meeting between President Bush and Mr Blair at Crawford,

Texas, in early April 2002”.86

174.  The request was recorded in Mr McKane’s minute of 19 February.87 The papers

included:

• “Iraq A paper analysing the options, the state of play on the UN resolutions, the

legal base and the internal dimension – the state of the opposition groups etc.”

• “WMD A paper for public consumption setting out the facts on WMD …”

83  The White House, 29 January 2002, The President’s State of the Union Address.

84  Telegram 197 Washington to FCO London, 13 February 2002, ‘US/IRAQ: The Momentum Builds’.

85  Minute Ehrman to Goulty, 13 February 2002, ‘US/Iraq’.

86  Public hearing, 19 January 2011, page 34.

87  Minute McKane to Manning, 19 February 2002, ‘Papers for the Prime Minister’.

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