6.4 |
Planning and preparation for a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, mid-2001
to January 2003
883.
Concerns about
post-conflict preparations were raised during the House
of
Commons
debate on resolution 1441 on 25 November, described in more
detail
in Section
3.6.
884.
Mr Donald
Anderson (Labour), Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, noted
“that
we need to
plan for the post-conflict position now, rather than imagining that
it will solve
885.
Others focused
on the importance of humanitarian contingency planning. The
point
was put
most forcefully by Mr Peter Luff (Conservative):
“There is a
strong view held with great sincerity by many UN Member States
that
to prepare
for a humanitarian crisis is to acknowledge the inevitability of
war. I do
not accept
that argument. To prepare for the worst is not to wish for the
worst, and
we should
prepare for the worst. Indeed, that may have the incidental
advantage
of
reinforcing in Saddam Hussein’s mind the seriousness of the
international
community’s
purpose. Please let us do more to prepare for the
humanitarian
consequences
of a war that none of us want.”426
886.
Dr Jenny Tonge
(Liberal Democrat) asked Mr Straw to consider
“unfinished
business”
elsewhere in the world:
“Do we have
the capacity to cope? In Afghanistan, only $1bn has so far
been
committed
out of the billions that were promised, and 70 percent of that has
been
spent on
humanitarian aid. There is no security in Afghanistan outside
Kabul,
Afghanistan
has asked for an extension of the international security
assistance
force, but
where will the extra help come from? Will it come from the United
States
or from
Britain? Where will it come from if we are facing war in Iraq and
the Middle
East? Very
little progress has been made in Afghanistan despite the promises
of the
Prime
Minister. It is unfinished business.
“Many
members have rightly referred to the difficult situation in the
Middle East …
more
unfinished business.
“For many
people, the Balkans are a distant memory, but it is still a very
unstable
region …
This year, only six percent of the aid promised in the famous
Marshall Plan
for the
Balkans has been delivered. That is yet more unfinished business.
We are
very good
at destroying, but not so good at rebuilding. I have not even
mentioned
887.
Neither Mr
Hoon nor Mr Straw addressed post-conflict issues during the
debate.
425
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 25 November
2002, column 89.
426
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 25 November
2002, column 91.
427
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 25 November
2002, column 115.
261