9.5 |
June 2006 to 27 June 2007
849.
A note from
Mr Blair’s Private Secretary suggesting “deliverables” for
the
trip
proposed that for Iraq the public outcome should be an enhanced
focus on
reconciliation.461
In private,
a positive outcome would be agreement that the senior
US
and UK
military and diplomatic representatives in Iraq would hold the
Leadership Council
to its
commitment to reconciliation.
850.
On 17 May,
Mr Blair and President Bush held a video conference with
senior UK
and US
military and civilian personnel in Baghdad.462
851.
Mr Blair
underlined the importance of the Sunni and Shia coming together
as
part of
a political process to focus on the true causes of the violence in
Iraq, Al Qaida
and
Iran.
852.
Mr Blair
concluded that, by September, it would be important for the
coalition
to have
given the Iraqis a strong sense that everything possible was being
done on
security
and on reconciliation. It was imperative that people understood
that the drivers
of violence
in Iraq were the same as for the fight against terrorism and that:
“If we could
deal them a
blow in Iraq, it would have a wider impact on the
fight.”
853.
Mr Blair’s
Private Secretary reported to Mrs Beckett’s Private Secretary
that:
“Based on
the VTC, the Prime Minister is strengthened in his view that the UK
needs
to make a
concerted push on reconciliation working with the US. He would like
a
senior
British official to be in charge of this who would work closely
with the US, and
who could
be available to undertake dialogue in Iraq and the
region.”
854.
The FCO was
tasked to produce some thoughts on that by 25 May.
At the
start of May President Bush vetoed a Congressional Bill which
released funding for
Iraq on the
condition that US troops began to withdraw that
year.463
On 11 May,
the House of Representatives passed a further Bill which would
release
US$43bn
immediately and a further US$53bn after July, subject to a
demonstration that
progress
had been made.464
A
compromise Bill was approved by Congress on 24 May.465
This
guaranteed US$120bn
funding and
did not include a timetable for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq
but set
out a
series of conditions or benchmarks to be met for the release of
funding for civilian
reconstruction
efforts.
461
Minute
Gould to Prime Minister, 11 May 2007, ‘Your Trip to Washington:
Deliverables’.
462
Letter
Gould to Hayes, 17 May 2007, ‘Iraq: VTC with the Prime Minister,
President Bush and Baghdad:
17 May
2007’.
463
BBC
News, 2 May
2007, Bush vetoes
Iraq withdrawal Bill.
464
BBC
News, 11 May
2007, US House
passes Iraq funding Bill.
465
Minute
Banner to Prime Minister, 25 May 2007, ‘Iraq Update, 25
May’.
159