10.3 |
Reconstruction: oil, commercial interests, debt relief, asylum and
stabilisation policy
‘A Vision
for Iraq and the Iraqi People’.98
Key
differences included the omission of any
explicit
reference to oil. On post-conflict reconstruction, the three
leaders declared:
“We will
work to prevent and repair damage by Saddam Hussein’s regime to
the
natural
resources of Iraq and pledge to protect them as a national asset of
and
for the
Iraqi people. All Iraqis should share the wealth generated by their
national
economy
…
“… We will
also propose that the [UN] Secretary-General be given authority, on
an
interim
basis, to ensure that the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people
continue to
be met
through the Oil-for-Food program.”
190.
A specially
convened Cabinet, the last before the invasion, was held at 1600
on
17
March.99
Mr Blair
told Cabinet that the US had confirmed that it “would seek a
UN
mandate for
the post-conflict reconstruction of Iraq”. Oil revenues would be
administered
under the
UN’s authority.
191.
Mr Peter
Gooderham, Counsellor at the British Embassy Washington,
reported
to IPU on
the same day on a further meeting with a senior NSC
official.100
The
official
had advised
that, while the NSC fully understood the UK’s “desire for maximum
UN
legitimacy
and transparency in running the oil sector … other equities in the
[US]
Administration
continued to see no need for this”.
192.
In his speech
in the House of Commons on 18 March, Mr Blair stated
that:
“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 …
“And this
point 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
193.
The invasion
of Iraq began on the night of 19-20 March 2003. Military
operations
during the
invasion are described in Section 8.
194.
Official
exports of Iraqi oil ceased on 22 March.102
195.
Between 18
March and 22 April, updates on key events relating to Iraq
produced
by COBR,
the UK Government’s crisis management and co-ordination facility,
were
98
Statement
of the Atlantic Summit, 16 March 2003, A Vision
for Iraq and the Iraqi People.
99
Cabinet
Conclusions, 17 March 2003.
100
Letter
Gooderham to Chilcott, 17 March 2003, ‘Iraq Day After: Oil
Sector’.
101
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 18 March
2003, column 771.
102
Paper IPU,
22 April 2003, ‘Oil/Energy Policy for Iraq’.
403