The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
610.
On oil and
gas, the briefing stated:
“•
… current
speculation on post-Saddam arrangements in Iraqi oil
sector
are
damaging public perceptions of our motives. See some risk of
creating
misimpression
we are in this for the sake of spoils;
•
any new
regime in Baghdad will need to be seen to honour legitimate
existing
commitments,
and to maintain open bidding procedure for oil and gas
investment
(unlike Kuwait after 1991).”
611.
Mr Straw and
Secretary Powell discussed post-conflict issues on 14
and
612.
The FCO’s
‘Vision for Iraq and the Iraqi People’ was a statement of the
UK’s
aspirations
for Iraq.
613.
It was
intended to have a positive impact on UK and Iraqi Public
opinion,
but did not
appear to reflect any assessment of the degree to which Iraqi
citizens
might share
the UK’s aspirations.
614.
The
‘Vision’ was never used in its original form, but did inform
the
Government’s
statements on the future of Iraq in the run up to the invasion
(see
Section
6.5).
615.
The fourth FCO
paper on post-conflict Iraq, the ‘Vision for Iraq and the
Iraqi
People’,
was put to the AHGI on 11 October. The record of the meeting stated
that the
paper was
to “remain in reserve”.315
616.
The ‘Vision
for Iraq and the Iraqi People’ was a one-page document by
DSI
containing
echoes of the 2001 ‘Contract with the Iraqi People’, described
earlier in this
Section.316
It set out
the UK’s aspirations for the Iraqi people and how it would
help
achieve
them. It stated that the UK had “no quarrel” with Iraqis and wanted
to help them
“restore
Iraq to its proper dignity and place in the community of
nations”.
617.
The UK’s five
aspirations were:
“•
Freedom: an
Iraq which respects fundamental human rights, including
freedom
of thought,
conscience and religion and the dignity of family life, and
whose
people live
free from repression and the fear of torture or arbitrary
arrest.
•
Good
Government: an independent Iraq respecting the rule of law and
ruled in
accordance
with democratic principles, whose government reflects the
diversity
of its
population.
314
Minute
Straw to Prime Minister, 16 October 2002, ‘Iraq: Conversation with
Powell: No US Interlocutors’.
315
Minute Dodd
to Manning, 14 October 2002, ‘Ad Hoc Group on Iraq’.
316
Paper
[draft] FCO, [undated], ‘Vision for Iraq and the Iraqi
People’.
218