The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
581.
The record of
the meeting on 11 March reported that Mr Blair had started
by
addressing
the legal basis for military action.193
He stated
that Lord Goldsmith’s “advice
made it
clear that a reasonable case could be made” that resolution 1441
was “capable
of
reviving” the authorisation of resolution 678 (1990), “although of
course a second
resolution
would be preferable”.
582.
Adm Boyce and
Mr Hoon described the military plan, the proposed UK
involvement,
possible Iraqi tactics, and responses to them. Adm Boyce was
“confident
that the
battle plan would work”. The record stated that Mr Blair asked a
number of
questions
and confirmed he was “in general content with it”.
583.
Mr Blair
stated that “we must concentrate on averting unintended
consequences
of military
action. On targeting, we must minimise the risks to
civilians.”
584.
Other points
recorded by Mr Rycroft included:
•
Adm Boyce
said he “would need to put a short paragraph in his directive
to
members of
the Armed Forces”.
•
The
paragraph “should be cleared with the Attorney
General”.
•
The UK
would send the US a positive reply to its request to use Diego
Garcia
and RAF
Fairford “in a day or two, with the usual conditions
attached”.
•
Mr Hoon and
Adm Boyce advised that “once we had given our approval, the
US
might give
very little notice before the start of the campaign”.
•
Sir Andrew
Turnbull asked whether a legal basis for military action was
required
for civil
servants, as well as for members of the Armed Forces.
•
Mr Hoon
asked whether the Attorney General’s legal advice was ever
disclosed.
•
Mr Blair
asked for a quick study into the precedents for that.
585.
Mr Campbell
wrote in his diaries that:
•
Mr Hoon had
“said he would be happier with a clearer green light from the
AG”.
•
Mr Blair
had been “really irritated” when Sir Andrew Turnbull had “said he
would
need
something to put round the Civil Service that what they were
engaged in
was legal”.
Mr Blair was “clear we would do nothing that wasn’t
legal”.
•
Lord
Goldsmith had provided “a version of the arguments he had put to
TB,
on the one
hand, on the other, reasonable case”.
•
Mr Hoon had
advised that the response to the “US request for the use
of
Diego Garcia
and [RAF] Fairford” should be that it was “not … automatic but
had
to go round
the system”. Mr Blair had said he “did not want to send a signal
that
we would
not do it”.
193
Letter
Rycroft to McDonald, 11 March 2003, ‘Iraq: Legal and Military
Aspects’.
478