The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
8.
Although it is
not the task of the Inquiry to evaluate US policy, the approach
taken
by the UK
Government can only be understood in the context of its dialogue
with
Washington
and the evolution of US policy.
9.
The UK and the
US shared common strategic interests in the region, but
their
analyses
and policies were not identical and there were important
differences in their
tactical
and diplomatic approaches. France and Russia also had key interests
in Iraq,
which
pre-dated the 1990-1991 Gulf Conflict, including in relation to
outstanding debts
for arms
they had supplied. As Permanent Members of the Security Council,
they too
had
significant influence on the development of international policy on
Iraq.
10.
After the
1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, Iraq continued to develop its military
capability.
Some
Western governments had shown a degree of support for Iraq during
that conflict,
but tension
grew between Iraq and the West as evidence emerged of advanced
work
on weapons
of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, in contravention of
Iraq’s
international
treaty obligations. Some Western firms were implicated in
supplying
material to
Iraq, as Lord Justice Scott set out in the Report of
the Inquiry into the Export
of Defence
Equipment and Dual-Use Goods to Iraq and Related
Prosecutions,
published
in 1996.
The execution of Observer
freelance
journalist Mr Farzad Bazoft in March 1990
led to the
withdrawal of the British Ambassador to Iraq. The subsequent
discovery at
Heathrow
Airport, the same month, of an attempt to smuggle
nuclear-weapons-related
components
further exacerbated the deterioration in the UK’s relations with
Iraq.
11.
In July 1990,
Saddam Hussein accused Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates
of
waging
economic warfare against Iraq. The accusation was based on: their
reluctance
to reduce
oil production to force a rise in prices; Kuwait’s unwillingness to
cancel Iraq’s
debts for
the large loans it had received during the Iran-Iraq War; and
accusations that
Kuwait was
stealing from the Rumaylah oilfield, which straddles the border
between Iraq
and Kuwait.
Iraq began moving the eight divisions of the Republican Guard
towards the
border on
16 July. Negotiations to settle the dispute, facilitated by
King Fahd of Saudi
Arabia and
President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, began in Jedda on
31 July.
12.
Despite
assurances of peaceful intent from Saddam Hussein to King Fahd
and
President
Mubarak, Iraqi military forces invaded Kuwait in the early hours of
1 August.
Within a
few hours, the UN Security Council met to discuss elements of a
draft
resolution.
On 2 August, the Security Council adopted resolution 660
(1990), determining
that a
breach of international peace and security existed, and confirming
that it was
acting
under Articles 39 and 40 of the UN Charter (see Box, ‘The Charter
framework for
the use of
force’). The resolution condemned the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait;
demanded
that Iraq
withdraw immediately and unconditionally all its forces to the
positions in
which they
were located on 1 August 1990; called upon Iraq and Kuwait
immediately to
begin
intensive negotiations to resolve their differences; and decided to
meet again as
necessary
to consider further steps to ensure compliance with the
resolution.
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