The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
earliest
possible lifting of UN sanctions, an international reconstruction
programme,
and the use
of all oil revenues for the benefit of the Iraqi people and
endorse
an
appropriate post-conflict administration for Iraq, leading to a
representative
government
which upholds human rights and the rule of law for all Iraqis
…”470
1106.
In his speech
in the House of Commons on 18 March, addressed in more
detail
in Section
3.8, Mr Blair called for a “larger global agenda: on poverty
and sustainable
development;
on democracy and human rights; and on good governance of
nations”.471
He
added:
“That is
why what happens after any conflict in Iraq is of such critical
significance.
Here again
there is a chance to unify around the United Nations. There
should
be a new
United Nations resolution following any conflict providing not only
for
humanitarian
help, but for the administration and governance of Iraq. That
must
be done
under proper UN authorisation.
…
“The UN
resolution that should provide for the proper governance of Iraq
should also
protect
totally the territorial integrity of Iraq. And this is also
important: that the oil
revenues,
which people falsely claim that we want to seize, should be put in
a trust
fund for
the Iraqi people administered through the UN.
…
“Let the
future Government of Iraq be given the chance to begin the process
of
uniting the
nation’s disparate groups, on a democratic basis …
…
“The
process must begin on a democratic basis, respecting human rights,
as,
indeed, the
fledgling democracy in northern Iraq – protected from Saddam
for
12 years
by British and American pilots in the No-Fly Zone – has done
remarkably.
The moment
that a new Government are in place, committed to disarming Iraq
of
weapons of
mass destruction, is the point in time when sanctions should be
lifted,
in their
entirety for the people of Iraq.”
“I have
never put the justification for action as regime change. We have to
act within
the terms
set out in resolution 1441 – that is our legal base. But it is the
reason why
I say
frankly that if we do act we should do so with a clear conscience
and a strong
heart …
Iraq is a potentially wealthy country which in 1979, the year
before Saddam
came to
power, was richer than Portugal or Malaysia. Today it is
impoverished,
470
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 18 March
2003, column 760.
471
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 18 March
2003, columns 771-772.
508