The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
1135.
At Prime
Minister’s Questions on 19 March, Mr David Rendel (Liberal
Democrat)
asked for
assurances that sufficient funds for post-conflict reconstruction
would be made
1136.
Mr Blair
replied that the purpose of the reconstruction programme in
Iraq
was not,
primarily, to do with the consequences of conflict, “but is
actually to do with
reconstructing
the country after the years of Saddam Hussein and his rule”. Funds
had
already
been earmarked for the purpose and Ministers were doing all they
could “to
make sure
that we co-ordinate with American allies and also with other UN
partners to
ensure that
the funds are available and also that the programme is available,
so that in
the
post-conflict situation in Iraq the people of Iraq are given the
future that they need”.
1137.
Mr Duncan
Smith observed that, when he had asked in the past about the
plans
for
post-conflict Iraq, Mr Blair had been “quite legitimately and
understandably, reluctant
to give
full answers because he would not have wanted to give the
impression that war
was
inevitable”.490
Would
Mr Blair now explain what plans there were “to put in place
a
civilian
representative government in Iraq”?
“We are in
discussion now with not just the United States, but other allies
and
the United
Nations. We want to ensure that any post-conflict authority in Iraq
is
endorsed
and authorised by a new United Nations resolution, and I think that
will
be an
important part of bringing the international community back
together again.”491
1139.
Mr Blair
referred Mr Duncan Smith to the ‘Vision for Iraq and the Iraqi
People’.
He
suggested that the principles of peace, prosperity, freedom and
good government
included in
the Vision “will go some way toward showing that if there is a
conflict and
Saddam
Hussein is removed, the future for the Iraqi people will be better
as a result”.
1140.
Mr Annan
told the Security Council on 19 March that, in any area
under
military
occupation, responsibility for the welfare of the population fell
to the
Occupying
Power.
1141.
The UN
would do whatever it could to help, without assuming
or
diminishing
the responsibility of the Occupying Power.
1142.
The Security
Council held an open debate on Iraq on 19 March. The
debate
is addressed
in more detail in Section 3.8.492
489
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 19 March
2003, column 930.
490
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 19 March
2003, column 931.
491
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 19 March
2003, columns 931-932.
492
UN Security
Council, ‘4721st Meeting Wednesday 19 March 2003’
(S/PV.4721).
514