The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
Government’s
agreement to the use of RAF Fairford, Diego Garcia and, possibly,
other
UK bases
for military operations against Iraq.241
607.
In the letter
the FCO advised that “under international law, the UK would
be
responsible
for any US action in breach of international law in which the UK
knowingly
assisted”.
The draft response was “premised on a decision that UNSCR 1441 and
other
relevant
resolutions” provided “the authority for action”.
608.
Mr Desmond
Bowen, Deputy Head of the Overseas and Defence
Secretariat
in the
Cabinet Office, advised Sir David Manning in a minute that the
request was to
be
discussed at Mr Blair’s meeting with Lord Goldsmith,
Mr Straw and Mr Hoon on
11 March.
He understood that Mr Straw and Mr Hoon had copies of
Lord Goldsmith’s
609.
Ms Adams
advised Lord Goldsmith that she understood “the principal
purpose
of the
meeting to be to discuss the ad bellum issue”.243
610.
An hour before
the meeting took place, MOD Legal Advisers provided
questions
for Mr Hoon
to raise at the meeting, explaining:
“… some in
the FCO – whether having read the AG’s letter or not, I don’t know
– are
beginning
to believe that the legal base is already OK. It seems to us – and
I have
discussed
this with Martin Hemming – that the position is not yet so
clear.”244
611.
The document
provided for Mr Hoon stated:
“Questions
for the Attorney General
“If no 2nd
resolution is adopted (for whatever reason), and the PM decides
that
sufficient
evidence exists that Iraq has failed to take the final opportunity
to comply
offered by
1441, is he satisfied that the currently proposed use of force
would be
lawful
under international law?
“Comment:
The AG’s minute to the PM is equivocal: he says ‘a reasonable
case
can be
made’ [for the revival argument] but also says that his view is
that ‘different
considerations
apply in different circumstances’ [meaning the nature of the
Security
Council
discussions under OP12]. He ends his summary thus: ‘If we fail to
achieve
the
adoption of a second resolution we would need to consider urgently
at that stage
the
strength of our legal case in the light of circumstances at the
time’.
241
Letter
Sinclair to Rycroft, 11 March 2003, ‘US Request to use Diego Garcia
and RAF Fairford for
Possible
Operations Against Iraq’.
242
Minute
Bowen to Manning, 11 March 2003, ‘US Use of British
Bases’.
243
Minute
Adams to Attorney General, 11 March 2003, ‘Iraq: Meeting at No.10,
1PM’.
244
Email DG
OpPol-S to SofS-Private Office-S[MOD], 11 March 2003, ‘Urgent for
Peter Watkins’ attaching
Paper ‘Questions
for the Attorney General’.
110