The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
277.
Asked by
Mr Brian H Donohoe (Labour) if he would allow the Foreign
Affairs
Committee
to have the same access to the evidence and witnesses as the ISC,
Mr Blair
stated that
“it would not be sensible to have two inquiries
competing”.
278.
Asked by
Mr Denzil Davies (Labour) whether the “failure of the
Coalition to look
for”
weapons of mass destruction “as a matter of the highest priority in
the immediate
aftermath
of the war could well have provided the opportunity for many of the
weapons –
if they are
there – to find their way into the hands of the various terrorist
groups that are
operating
in and around the Middle East”, Mr Blair replied that that was
a crucial issue
but he did
not think it was wrong:
“… for the
Coalition to have said that our first priority at the end of the
conflict … had
to be
reconstruction and the humanitarian position of the Iraqi people.
Indeed we
would have
been criticised roundly if we had not done so.”
279.
Mr Blair’s
statement about the G8 summit was followed by a second
debate
280.
The Liberal
Democrat motion tabled for the debate stated:
“That this
House recalls the Prime Minister’s assertion that Iraq possessed
weapons
of mass
destruction capable of being used at 45 minutes’ notice; further
recalls
the
Government’s contention that these weapons posed an imminent danger
to
the United
Kingdom and its forces; notes that to date no such weapons have
been
found; and
calls for an independent inquiry into the handling of the
intelligence
received,
its assessment and the decisions made by Ministers based upon
it.”
281.
In his speech
opening the debate, Mr Menzies Campbell, Liberal
Democrat
Foreign
Affairs Spokesperson, set out in detail his interpretation of the
case which had
been made
by the Government before the conflict; questioned whether military
action
was “truly
a last resort” and if action to bring an end to the regime of
Saddam Hussein
was
proportionate; and set out the rationale for an independent Inquiry
which would be
answerable
to the public, “not just to the Prime Minister or the
House”.
282.
The Government
tabled an amendment to the Liberal Democrat motion
stating
that the
ISC was “the appropriate body to carry out any Inquiry into
intelligence relating
to Iraq”
and asking the House to note the terms of resolution 1483 “in
relation to Iraq’s
disarmament
obligations”, which had been adopted while Parliament was in
recess.
283.
In his speech
in support of the amendment, which addressed a wide range
of
issues, not
just WMD, Mr Straw stated that the Government had not, so far
as he was
aware, used
some of the words in the Liberal Democrat motion. It had not
referred to
Iraq’s
weapons posing an “imminent danger”; it had:
“… talked
about a threat to international peace and security, as had
the
United Nations.”
147
House of
Commons, Official
Report,
4 June 2003, columns 180-232.
478