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6.4  |  Planning and preparation for a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, mid-2001 to January 2003
157.  US post-conflict planning began to take shape in spring 2002 at meetings of the
NSC Deputies Committee98 involving DoD, the State Department, the CIA and the
Pentagon Joint Staff:
“The Deputies Committee focused on three concepts: a liberation model in which
Iraqis would quickly take charge through a provisional government; a military
administration led by CENTCOM [the US Central Command]; or a civilian transitional
authority, perhaps run under UN auspices.”99
158.  What might replace Saddam Hussein’s regime was one of the themes of talks
between Mr Blair and Vice President Dick Cheney in London on 11 March.
159.  The FCO briefing for Mr Blair’s meeting with Vice President Cheney on 11 March
covered a range of issues.100 Iraq was highlighted as:
“… the main issue, including for the media given speculation that the US are moving
towards early decisions on military action … This will … be an important opportunity
… to get a feel for where the debate in Washington stands and what options are
emerging.”
160.  The FCO suggested that the key messages for Mr Cheney on Iraq included:
“Issues arising from regime change on which I [Mr Blair] would welcome your
thoughts:
Assessment of Iraqi Opposition …;
Require serious movement on MEPP to give us space in which to act;
Day after issues loom large. Territorial integrity of Iraq important. Likely
replacement for Saddam – another Sunni strongman. Establishing
representative government would require long term commitment;
Genuine consultation and construction of convincing legal basis will be
important …”101
161.  Mr Matthew Rycroft, Mr Blair’s Private Secretary for Foreign Affairs, advised
Mr Blair that he needed Vice President Cheney to give him Washington’s latest views
on a number of issues, including “what to do on the day after regime change”.102
98 A committee of the National Security Council (NSC), chaired by the Deputy National Security Advisor
(Mr Stephen Hadley from 2001 to 2005) and including the deputies to the members of the NSC. The
Deputies Committee is the senior sub-Cabinet inter-agency forum for consideration of policy issues
relating to US national security.
99  Bowen SW Jr. Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience. U.S. Government Printing
Office, 2009.
100  Letter McDonald to Rycroft, 8 March 2002, ‘US Vice President’s call on the Prime Minister, 11 March’.
101  Paper [unattributed and undated], ‘Visit of US Vice President Dick Cheney 11 March: Iraq’.
102  Minute Rycroft to Prime Minister, 8 March 2002, ‘Lunch with Dick Cheney’.
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