The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
application
of force has been excluded; that would not be acceptable for the
majority
of the
Council’s members.”
492.
Argentina,
Egypt, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan and Peru all asked
to
participate
in the discussion. With the exception of Kuwait, the statements
focused on
the
peaceful resolution of disputes as opposed to the use of force and
their concerns
about the
adverse consequences of military action for the people of Iraq, and
for peace
and
security in the region.
493.
Kuwait
welcomed Mr Annan’s achievements but asked the Security
Council to attach
the same
importance to Kuwaiti issues, including the destiny of the
detainees and prisoners
taken by
Iraq in 1990-1991 who constituted one percent of the population of
Iraq, as it had
attached to
saving others in the region from the threat from weapons of mass
destruction.
494.
On
5 March, UNSCOM inspectors returned to Iraq and successfully
carried out a
number of
site inspections.195
A baseline
survey of the eight Presidential sites by a team
including
senior diplomats was successfully carried out between 25 March
and 4 April.
495.
During a visit
by Mr Blair to Paris on 24 March, Mr Campbell
recorded that, on
Iraq,
Mr Blair and President Jacques Chirac were “in very different
places, TB claiming
a success
for diplomacy backed by force, Chirac basically saying we were
killing
children
through sanctions”.196
496.
In his report
of 3 April, Mr Butler set out UNSCOM’s responsibility for
reporting
whether
Iraq had met the requirements set out in paragraphs 8 to 10 of
resolution 687,
and that
those reports were the “sole criteria” for assessing Iraq’s actions
to provide
the basis
for a Council decision on lifting the provisions of paragraph 22
prohibiting the
imports of
commodities and products originating in Iraq.197
497.
Describing
them as the “indispensible context” for the Council’s
consideration
of Iraq’s
compliance, Mr Butler set out:
•
“Iraq’s
claim that it has no more prohibited weapons ‘in the control of
the
Government
of Iraq, in the territory of Iraq’”; and that it had “made
available
… all that
is necessary to enable the Commission to verify that claim and
that
nothing
further, of substance, will be made available by Iraq.
•
Iraq’s
claim, which it had not been possible for the Commission to verify,
did not
“satisfy
the three step system the Council established in order to enable
Iraq to
fulfil its
obligations”. Those steps, which were “not separable”
were:
{{full
declaration by Iraq;
195
UN Security
Council, 16 April 1998, ‘Report of the Executive Chairman on
the activities of the Special
Commission
established by the Secretary-General pursuant to paragraph 9 (b)
(i) of resolution 687 (1991)’
(S/1998/332).
196
Campbell A
& Stott R. The Blair
Years: Extracts from the Alastair Campbell Diaries.
Hutchinson, 2007.
197
UN Security
Council, 16 April 1998, ‘Report of the Executive Chairman on
the activities of the Special
Commission
established by the Secretary-General pursuant to paragraph 9 (b)
(i) of resolution 687 (1991)’
(S/1998/332).
112