The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
Mr Scarlett’s
“nuggets” would be included in Mr Duelfer’s report, although
the timing
would be
“tight, + difficult”.
725.
Mr Blair
asked: “But can they also include the transcripts of interviews
which I
found
v[ery] persuasive in the Oct 2003 background
draft?”407
726.
In a note to
No.10 officials on 15 March, Mr Blair wrote:
“As for the
ISG, the problem is that they don’t seem to understand that, at
present,
opinion
thinks there is either a WMD finding or nothing. Actually there is
a mystery
as to what
happened to the physical evidence but it was plain much was going
on
in breach
of UN resolutions. It is the latter point that the further interim
report could
deal with,
eg by disclosing transcripts of interviews with Iraqi scientists
and officials
as per the
background paper in October. We need to work intensively on this
with
727.
Mr Blair’s
initial view of the draft ISG Status Report was that it was
better
than
expected.
728.
Mr Blair
was clear that the principal messages – that Saddam Hussein
had
been in
breach of Security Council resolutions and that his behaviour had
raised
“immense
suspicions” – must stand out.
729.
The first copy
of the draft ISG Status Report was received in London
on
15 March.409
Mr Scarlett
described it as:
“•
short
•
a summary
of developments since the September [Interim] Report
•
focused on
strategic intentions of the regime
•
careful to
avoid conclusions”.
730.
Mr Scarlett
drew attention to material in the section on new
developments:
•
Nuclear –
“Some useful new detail here which strengthens the
previous
comment.”
•
BW – “This
is weaker and lacking detail. Almost all the points from
Kay’s
report,
which we proposed for inclusion are not here. Although the draft
avoids
‘conclusions’,
some negative assessment points in that direction, especially
on
the mobile
labs.”
•
CW –
“Again, this lacks detail including the ‘nuggets’ proposed by us
…”
•
Missiles –
“As before, some useful detail but there could be significantly
more,
again
including our proposals from the previous report.”
407
Manuscript
comment Blair on Minute Scarlett to Sheinwald, 11 March 2004,
‘ISG’.
408
Note
[Blair], 15 March 2004, [untitled].
409
Minute
Scarlett to Cannon, 16 March 2004, ‘ISG Draft
Report’.
566