1.1 | UK
Iraq strategy 1990 to 2000
•
There had
been “a stark choice” between letting “the process continue
further,
with UNSCOM
more and more emasculated” or, “having tried every
possible
diplomatic
avenue and shown endless patience”, tackling Saddam
Hussein’s
“remaining
capability through direct action”. In Mr Blair’s view, there
was “only
one
responsible choice”.
699.
Addressing the
issue of whether the objective was to remove Saddam
Hussein,
Mr Blair
stated:
“The answer
is: it cannot be. No one would be better pleased if his evil
regime
disappeared
as a direct or indirect result of our action … Even if there
were
legal
authority to do so, removing Saddam through military action would
require
the
insertion of ground troops on a massive scale – hundreds of
thousands …
Even then,
there would be no absolute guarantee of success. I cannot make
that
commitment
responsibly.”
“Whatever
the risks we face today, they are as nothing compared to the risks
if we
do not halt
Saddam Hussein’s programme of developing chemical and
biological
weapons of
mass destruction.”
701.
Mr Hague
supported the action, adding that the Conservative party believed
that
“the
overall objective” of policy towards Iraq should be “to remove
Saddam from power
rather than
temporarily checking his ambitions”.
702.
Mr Blair
agreed that “a broad objective” was “to remove Saddam Hussein and
to
do all that
we can to achieve that”, but he did not think he could
“responsibly” make a
commitment
to that outcome as an “objective of this military action”.
Mr Blair expected
that
military action would “significantly degrade and diminish Saddam as
a threat to his
neighbours
and his weapon-making capability”.
703.
Mr Menzies
Campbell stated that the Liberal Democrats supported the action
“as
a painful
necessity and last resort to which we have been driven when all
other options
have been
exhausted”. Without Saddam Hussein’s “repeated defiance and
deception,
the issue …
could have been resolved several years ago”.
704.
The Rev.
Martin Smyth stated that “the greater number of people in
Northern
Ireland
support the attacks whole-heartedly”.
705.
Mr Blair’s
statement was followed by a debate on the military
action.278
706.
Mr Cook
stated that action had been taken because of Saddam Hussein’s
failure
to keep the
commitments he had made, and “with the full authority of repeated
Security
Council
resolutions, supported by all members of the Council”. The
background was
278
House of
Commons, Official
Report,
17 December 1998, columns 1112-1193.
155