The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
241.
The Note
concluded that any proposal would need to be tailored in a way
that
could
secure UN endorsement.
242.
In preparation
for the 8 April meeting between President Bush and Mr Blair
at
Hillsborough,
Mr Rycroft chaired talks between US and UK officials on 4
April.126
243.
The IPU
provided Mr Rycroft with an annotated version of the agenda
for the talks
and a
commentary on the latest US draft resolution on 3
April.127
244.
The commentary
described the UK’s problems with the US draft, including
that
it specified
that Iraqi oil revenues would be spent at the direction of the
Coalition.
That would
be unacceptable to the Security Council.
245.
The annotated
agenda set out the UK position on that issue:
“We believe
that, like the wider political process, this management [of oil
revenues]
has to be
legitimised by the UN; and that it will only be acceptable to the
UNSC
[Security
Council] if it involves some form of effective international
oversight –
about whose
details we do not as yet have a firm view – until a representative
Iraqi
Government
is ready to take over.”
246.
The annotated
agenda also stated that:
“Any
decisions concerning the management of Iraq’s oil reserves should
be taken
either by
the UN or by the new Iraqi institutions. The Coalition’s effort
should focus
on
rehabilitating Iraq’s existing infrastructure …”
247.
Mr Brenton
reported by telegram on 4 April, to clarify US views on
post-conflict
Iraq.128
While
discussions had been “disproportionately dominated by hard-line
DoD
positions”,
the reality was that “NSC rule” and it was close to the UK position
on most
of the
post-conflict agenda. There was considerable common ground between
the US
(including
DoD) and the UK, including on the need for oil revenues to be “in
the hands of
the Iraqis,
with international oversight, and spent by the Coalition only for
tasks agreed
by the
UNSCR [resolution]”.
248.
Mr Nicholas
Cannon, Mr Blair’s Assistant Private Secretary for Foreign
Affairs,
wrote to
Mr Simon McDonald, Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign
Secretary, on
4 April,
reporting the talks between US and UK officials.129
249.
Mr Cannon
reported that the US delegation had proposed that the bulk of
Iraqi
oil
revenues should go into a fund under Coalition supervision, “if
necessary with a
126
Minute
Rycroft to Blair, 4 April 2003, ‘Future of Iraq’.
127
Letter
Chilcott to Rycroft, 3 April 2003, ‘Iraq: Phase IV: Meeting with US
Officials’ attaching Paper IPU,
[undated],
‘Comments on US Draft Post Conflict Iraq Resolution’.
128
Telegram
448 Washington to FCO London, 4 April 2003, ‘Iraq: Post
Conflict’.
129
Letter
Cannon to McDonald, 4 April
2003, ‘Iraq, Post-Conflict Administration: US/UK
Talks,
4 March [sic]’.
410