The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
•
The UN
weapons inspectors, who had been “denied access to
Iraq”
could not “account
for large quantities of materials used to make these
deadly substances”.
•
“The
international community’s most pressing demand” was that Iraq
should
allow UN
officials to inspect its weapons programmes.
234.
The article
concluded:
“We cannot
allow Saddam to hold a gun to the heads of his own people,
his
neighbours
and the world for ever. Intense diplomatic efforts will continue,
and I hope
they will
achieve our aim of removing the threat which Iraq’s weapons of
mass
destruction
pose to humanity. But if he refuses to open his weapons programmes
to
proper
international inspection, he will have to live with the
consequences.
“No
decisions have been taken, but let no one – especially Saddam –
doubt
our resolve.”
235.
In his reply
to a debate in Westminster Hall on 6 March, Mr Ben Bradshaw,
the
Parliamentary
Under Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, stated that
the
main
concern was Iraq’s “determination to build weapons of mass
destruction and the
threat it
poses, not just to its neighbours, but to the rest of the
world”.111
236.
A briefing
paper prepared at Mr Straw’s request was sent to members of
the
Parliamentary
Labour Party and to the members of Cabinet. That described Iraq
as
a threat to
the international community and its WMD programmes as
“massive”.
237.
The paper
stated that if Iraq’s programmes remained unchecked, Iraq
could
develop a
crude nuclear device in about five years.
238.
A briefing
paper on Iraq, prepared at Mr Straw’s request by his Special
Adviser,
Dr Michael
Williams, was issued to the Parliamentary Labour Party
(PLP).112
239.
The paper
provided more detail on the arguments for addressing the Iraqi
regime
as “a
demonstrable threat to the stability of the region” which
Mr Straw had set out in his
article
in The
Times, including
the key elements of the strategy of containment,
Iraq’s
failure to
comply with most of the 27 obligations imposed in UN resolutions
and criticism
of Iraq’s
“notorious” human rights record.113
240.
In relation to
WMD, the paper stated:
•
The Iraqi
regime was threat “as a result of its continued development
of
weapons of
mass destruction”.
111
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 6 March
2002, column 87WH.
112
Statement,
Lord Williams of Baglan, 9 January 2011, page 5.
113
Paper for
the Parliamentary Labour Party, 5 March 2002, ‘Iraq
Briefing’.
56