6.5 |
Planning and preparation for a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, January to
March 2003
1081.
Mr Straw
raised the issue on 19 March.463
Secretary
Powell agreed with
Mr Straw’s
view that “ORHA had a fairly military feel”.
1082.
The
development of UK policy towards ORHA is described in Sections
9.1
and 10.1.
1083.
In response
to advice from officials on the global diplomatic agenda
that
would
follow a short and successful military campaign, Mr Straw
asked what
would
happen if there were “a long and unsuccessful war”.
1084.
Mr Straw’s
question was not put to officials and there is no indication
that
it was
considered further.
1085.
On 18 March
Mr Fraser sent Mr Straw a paper on “the diplomatic agenda
in the
aftermath
of a short and successful war in Iraq”, covering the US, the EU,
NATO, the
wider
Middle East, the UN and the global economy.464
The paper
stated that:
“Much will
depend on how the military campaign goes, the success of the
post-war
settlement
and whether we are able to provide useable evidence to the
international
community
that Saddam presented a real threat. For the
purposes of this paper,
we assume a
positive outcome on all three.”
1086.
The section on
relations with the US recommended focusing on “a
relatively
small
number of deliverables” on Iraq, the MEPP, WMD proliferation, the
World Trade
Organization
(WTO) and climate change. On Iraq, the paper
recommended:
“We should
continue to argue strongly for US agreement to a genuine UN role
in
the
administration and reconstruction of Iraq, including an effective
EU contribution
… We should
also seek to ensure that UK companies get a fair crack of the whip
in
post-conflict
Iraq.”
1087.
On 21 March,
Mr Straw asked: “What about if it is a long and
unsuccessful
1088.
Mr Straw’s
question was not included in the formal response to
Mr Fraser’s
paper sent
from Mr Straw’s Private Office on 1 April.466
There is no
indication that it was
considered
further.
463
Letter
McDonald to Manning, 19 March 2003, ‘Iraq: Foreign Secretary’s
Conversation with US Secretary
of State,
19 March’.
464
Minute
Fraser to PS [FCO], 18 March 2003, ‘Iraq: Implications for the
International System’
attaching Paper
DSI, [undated], ‘Iraq – Implications for the International
System’.
465
Manuscript
comment Straw, 21 March 2003, on Minute Fraser to PS [FCO], 18
March 2003,
‘Iraq: Implications
for the International System’.
466
Minute
McDonald to Fraser, 1 April 2003, ‘Iraq: Implications for the
International System’.
505