The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
military
operations, should they be necessary, with the objective of
ensuring the
disarmament
of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, and thereby the
maintenance
of the
authority of the United Nations.”
897.
Mr Straw
confirmed that Parliament “would have an opportunity to debate
our
involvement
in military action prior to hostilities” the following day; and
that the debate
would be on
a substantive motion “proposed by the Prime Minister and
Cabinet
colleagues”.
He also drew the attention of the House to Lord Goldsmith’s
Written
Answer,
which “set out the legal basis for the use of force against Iraq”,
and the
documents
provided earlier that day.
“Some say
that Iraq can be disarmed without an ultimatum, without the threat
or the
use of
force, but simply by more time and more inspections. That approach
is defied
by all our
experience over 12 weary years. It cannot produce the disarmament
of
Iraq; it
cannot rid the world of the danger of the Iraq regime. It can only
bring comfort
to tyrants
and emasculate the authority of the United Nations …”
899.
Mr Straw’s
statement was repeated in the House of Lords that day
by
Baroness Symons
during a debate on the legality of the use of armed force in
Iraq
initiated
by Lord Goodhart (see Section 3.8).407
900.
In answer to
the responses from Lord Howell of Guildford and Lord Wallace
of
Saltaire,
Baroness Symons stated that she believed:
“… the
legality of the position is indeed settled. I do not think we have
ever had such
a clear
statement from the Attorney General at a juncture like this … I
believe that
this
Government have gone further than any other Government to put that
advice
into the
public arena, and the Law Officer with his principal responsibility
has given
a clear
statement of his opinion …
“… [W]e
have already put into the public arena a full history of the United
Nations
Security
Council resolutions … That is in Command Paper 5769. We have
also
published a
full statement on the legal basis – a fuller statement than that
which my
noble and
learned friend gave in answer to … Baroness … Ramsey
…”408
407
House of
Lords, Official
Report, 17 March
2003, columns 97-103.
408
House of
Lords, Official
Report, 17 March
2003, columns 101-102.
162