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08:00 Tuesday, 24 September 2002
The government has released its dossier on Iraq. A foreword, printed below,
is from the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.
Foreword by the Prime Minister:
The document published today is based, in large part, on the work of the
Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC). The JIC is at the heart of the British
intelligence machinery. It is chaired by the Cabinet Office and made up of
the heads of the UK’s three Intelligence and Security Agencies, the Chief of
Defence Intelligence, and senior officials from key government departments.
For over 60 years the JIC has provided regular assessments to successive
Prime Ministers and senior colleagues on a wide range of foreign policy and
international security issues.
Its work, like the material it analyses, is largely secret. It is
unprecedented for the Government to publish this kind of document. But in
light of the debate about Iraq and Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), I
wanted to share with the British public the reasons why I believe this issue
to be a current and serious threat to the UK national interest.
In recent months, I have been increasingly alarmed by the evidence from inside
Iraq that despite sanctions, despite the damage done to his capability in the
past, despite the UNSCRs expressly outlawing it, and despite his denials,
Saddam Hussein is continuing to develop WMD, and with them the ability to
inflict real damage upon the region, and the stability of the world.
Gathering intelligence inside Iraq is not easy. Saddam’s is one of the most
secretive and dictatorial regimes in the world. So I believe people will
understand why the Agencies cannot be specific about the sources, which have
formed the judgements in this document, and why we cannot publish everything
we know. We cannot of course publish the detailed raw intelligence. I and
other Ministers have been briefed in detail on the intelligence and are
satisfied as to its authority. I also want to pay tribute to our Intelligence
and Security Services for the often extraordinary work that they do.
What I believe the assessed intelligence has established beyond doubt is that
Saddam has continued to produce chemical and biological weapons, that he
continues in his efforts to develop nuclear weapons, and that he has been
able to extend the range of his ballistic missile programme. I also believe
that, as stated in the document, Saddam will now do his utmost to try to conceal
his weapons from UN inspectors.
The picture presented by JIC papers in recent months has become more not less
worrying. It is clear that despite sanctions, the policy of containment has
not worked sufficiently well to prevent Saddam from developing these weapons.
I am in no doubt that the threat is serious, and current; that he has made
progress on WMD, and that he has to be stopped.
Saddam has used chemical weapons, not only against an enemy state, but
against his own people. Intelligence reports make clear that he sees the
building up of his WMD capability, and the belief overseas that he would use
these weapons, as vital to his strategic interests, and in particular his
goal of regional domination. And the document discloses that his military planning
allows for some of the WMD to be ready within 45 minutes of an order to use
them.
I am quite clear that Saddam will go to extreme lengths, indeed has already
done so, to hide these weapons and avoid giving them up.
In today’s inter-dependent world, a major regional conflict does not stay
confined to the region in question. Faced with someone who has shown himself
capable of using WMD, I believe the international community has to stand up
for itself and ensure its authority is upheld.
The threat posed to international peace and security, when WMD are in the
hands of a brutal and aggressive regime like Saddam’s, is real. Unless we
face up to the threat, not only do we risk undermining the authority of the
UN, whose resolutions he defies, but more important and in the longer term,
we place at risk the lives and prosperity of our own people.
The case I make is that the UN resolutions demanding he stops his WMD
programme are being flouted; that since the inspectors left four years ago,
he has continued with this programme; that the inspectors must be allowed
back in to do their job properly; and that if he refuses, or if he makes it
impossible for them to do their job, as he has done in the past, the
international community will have to act.
I believe that faced with the information available to me, the UK Government
has been right to support the demands that this issue be confronted and dealt
with. We must ensure that he does not get to use the weapons he has, or get
hold of the weapons he wants.
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