The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
712.
Mr Wilson
and Mr O’Brien made separate visits to Washington on 18
to
20 February
and 20 February respectively, to lobby the US on behalf of UK
companies
bidding for
the US-funded PMO contracts.419
713.
Sir Nigel
Sheinwald reported to Mr Blair on 21 February that
Mr Wilson and
Mr O’Brien
had “conspicuously failed to de-conflict their programmes and
insisted on
seeing the
same people”.420
Sir Nigel
continued: “To make things worse, Brian Wilson’s
visit seems
to have been organised, at least in part, by a private American
lobbying
organisation.”
714.
The Inquiry
has seen no indications that Mr Blair responded to that
report.
715.
The British
Embassy Washington reported on 23 February that Mr O’Brien
and
Mr Wilson
had stressed with all their interlocutors that the UK was not
alleging any unfair
treatment
of UK companies, but had pointed out that there would be “intense
scrutiny”
of the
PMO contract awards and it would be “very difficult for us [the
UK], politically, if we
716.
The Embassy
reported that, in response, US officials “on the technical
side”
(described
by the Embassy as comprising the PMO, US Department of
Defense,
and USACE)
had stressed that PMO contracts would be awarded on merit, with
no
scope for
political interference. The “political response” (from the NSC, the
CPA and
the
Department of State) had been “more nuanced”, with a recognition of
the political
problem
that the process could cause the UK.
717.
The Embassy
commented:
“The
message from those on the technical side was not surprising,
although given
the way the
process has gone so far it is hard to take at face value their
insistence
that they
are immune to political pressure … The response from the
political
contacts
was as encouraging as we could hope for. They genuinely understand
the
problems
that this could cause us.”
718.
Mr Henderson,
who had accompanied Mr Wilson and Mr O’Brien to
Washington,
reported on
the visits on the same day.422
Copies of
his report were sent to officials in
UKTI, DTI,
the FCO and No.10. The UK’s “core message” had been to
demonstrate
strong UK
Government support for the involvement of UK companies but stop
short of
419
Telegram 4
Washington to UKTI London, 23 February 2004, Iraq Reconstruction:
Lobbying the US’.
420
Minute
Sheinwald to Prime Minister, 21 February 2004, ‘Visit to
Washington, 20 February’.
421
Telegram 4
Washington to UKTI London, 23 February 2004, Iraq Reconstruction:
Lobbying the US’.
422
Minute
Henderson to Tibber, 23 February 2004, ‘Iraq Reconstruction: Visits
of Brian Wilson and
Mike
O’Brien to Washington 18 – 20 February’.
480