9.5 |
June 2006 to 27 June 2007
258.
In the note
Mr Blair said that the first basic element of the approach on
Iraq would
be a new
Iraq compact, ratified by a Security Council resolution, in
which:
“•
Iraqis come
together to support a non‑sectarian future;
•
MAS
[Muqtada al‑Sadr] dissociates himself from JAM and Maliki agrees to
go
after
JAM;
•
there is
better Iraqi governance and especially in the disbursement of
money;
•
the Iraqis
re‑affirm our presence whilst they need it.”
259.
The second
element of the approach would be:
“We make
explicit a broader Middle East strategy in which we put Iraq in the
context
of a
changing, modernising Middle East where everywhere, including
Palestine and
Lebanon, we
are trying to solve outstanding issues.”
In the US
mid‑term elections on 7 November, President Bush’s Republican Party
lost
control of
both the Senate and the House of Representatives to the Democratic
Party.151
The new
Speaker of the House of Representatives asked President Bush “to
work
together to
find a solution to the war in Iraq”.
The
following day, as widely anticipated, President Bush announced that
Secretary
Rumsfeld
would be stepping down, and that Mr Robert Gates would replace
him as
260.
Mr Blair
discussed Iraq policy with ACM Stirrup, Sir Nigel Sheinwald,
Mr Sawers,
SIS2,
Mr Jonathan Powell and other No.10 officials on 7
November.153
261.
Mr Blair
identified a strategy with four key elements:
“–
agreement
on a ‘national compact’ which produced a settlement of
the
key issues
acceptable to all groups in Iraq, and the basis for
non‑sectarian
government;
–
improvement
in the functioning of Iraqi institutions, particularly
disbursement
capability;
–
capability
gaps in the security forces, the army in particular, had to be
identified
and filled;
and
–
regional
actors had to be brought in to offer effective support to the
Iraqi
government.”
151
BBC
News, 9
November 2006, How will
the Democrats wield power?
152
eGram
49754/06 Washington to Various, 8 November 2006, ‘Rumsfeld:
Changing The Guard’.
153
Letter
Banner to Siddiq, 8 November 2006, ‘Iraq’.
51