The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
to Mr Blair
even though Ms Clwyd “had been pressing the point for ages”. Ms
Clwyd
offered to
look into the issue for Mr Blair and get back to him.
681.
At No.10’s
request, during September and October 2002, FCO officials started
to
consider
the possibility of an international criminal tribunal for Iraq
(ICTI).
682.
In late
September, the FCO advised Mr Blair that the UK would
support
international
moves to prosecute leading members of Saddam Hussein’s
regime,
but that
there were a number of obstacles.335
Those
included the lack of International
Criminal
Court (ICC) jurisdiction over crimes committed before the ICC
Statute entered
into force
on 1 July 2002 and limited support for the idea of establishing a
UN tribunal for
Iraq among
members of the Security Council.
683.
On 27
September, material was submitted to Lord Goldsmith, the
Attorney
General, on
behalf of INDICT, arguing that the UK should assert jurisdiction
over crimes
committed
against UK nationals by Saddam Hussein and Tariq Aziz (Iraqi
Foreign
Minister
and Deputy Prime Minister) in 1990 and promote the formation of an
ad hoc
tribunal to
deal with Saddam Hussein after he left office.336
684.
Ms Clwyd sent
the material to Mr Blair, who asked officials: “Can I have
some
proper work
done on why this isn’t a good idea, or could it have PR [public
relations]
685.
In their
response on 15 October, FCO officials pointed out that, although
President
Bush had
warned Saddam Hussein’s generals in a speech on 7 October “that all
war
criminals
will be pursued and punished”, he had not identified the mechanism
to be
used.338
They
cautioned that “to pursue efforts to set up an ICTI now, when we
are
seeking to
engage the UNSC on a range of substantive Iraq-related issues,
would be
a serious
own goal”.
686.
Officials put
forward four alternatives in the event of a change in the
Iraqi
administration:
•
a special
hybrid domestic tribunal, in connection with the UN and
including
international
judges and prosecutors, similar to the tribunal established
in
Sierra Leone;
•
special
hybrid panels within the Iraqi criminal justice system along the
lines of
the panels
established in East Timor and Kosovo;
335
Letter
Sedwill to Rycroft, 23 September 2002, ‘Iraq: INDICT’.
336
Note
Montgomery, 27 September 2002, ‘In the Matter of Iraqi Crimes
Against Humanity’.
337
Manuscript
comment Blair on Note Montgomery, 27 September 2002, ‘In the Matter
of Iraqi Crimes
Against
Humanity’.
338
Letter
Sedwill to Rycroft, 15 October 2002, ‘ICTY-Type Tribunal for Iraq’;
Speech Bush, 7 October 2002,
Cincinnati
Museum Center.
228