Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Iraq.
Iraq
Asked if the Prime Minister was happy for one of his own backbenchers to call on British troops to refuse to fight in an ‘illegal war’, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that he could not comment directly as this was a party matter. That said, Mr Galloway’s views on Iraq had been known for sometime - as had the Prime Minister’s strong disagreement with them. Pressed as to whether the Prime Minister thought it acceptable for Mr Galloway to be calling on British troops to disobey orders, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had more important things than George Galloway to focus on for the duration of the conflict. He was more interested in achieving the objectives of ridding Iraq of its WMD and allowing the country to be run by, and for, the people themselves rather than a bloody tyrant like Saddam. Asked to set out the Prime Minister’s diary engagements for today, the PMOS said that in addition to his daily Ministerial meeting on Iraq this morning and his Audience with the Queen later this afternoon, the Prime Minister had been chairing a number of other meetings and thinking about many other issues, as you would expect him to do. Simply because we were not flagging up each and every meeting he was having did not mean that none were taking place. The Prime Minister’s efforts, together with those of our international partners and the Coalition forces, were clearly paying off given the progress which had been made since the start of the conflict. Last week had seen Coalition forces getting a strategic grip of Iraq. This week we were seeing a steady advance. While the war was by no means at an end, it was important not to under-estimate what had already been done. Asked if the Prime Minister had any ‘domestic’ meetings in his diary today, the PMOS said that of course the Prime Minister had not forgotten the domestic agenda. However, people should not be surprised if the military campaign in Iraq was currently his number one priority.
Asked if the Prime Minister was confident that the US Administration would support the idea of a UN-led conference to bring together Iraqi Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis to form a new state after the war, the PMOS said that there was clearly a discussion to be had, not only with the US, but with other Coalition and UN members as well. As we had underlined at Camp David, it was more useful to allow those discussions to take place behind the scenes. At the moment, this was just one idea among many, but what was important was that any interim government should be fully representative of the Iraqi people.
Asked if the Prime Minister continued to believe that the UN would play a role in a post-Saddam Iraq, the PMOS said that the role of the UN was one of the issues which was being discussed. That was why the Prime Minister had met with the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, in New York last week.
Asked if the British Government had told the US that Iraqi Prisoners of War (PoWs) should not be sent to Guantanamo Bay, the PMOS said we had been assured by the US that all prisoners would be treated in accordance with the terms of the Geneva Convention. Asked if we believed that the detainees at Guantanamo Bay were being treated in accordance with the Convention, the PMOS said that the Red Cross monitored the situation constantly. Any concerns they had were met. Asked if he was implying that Iraqi PoWs held by British troops could be sent to Guantanamo Bay, the PMOS said he wasn’t implying anything. He was simply making the point that the PoWs would be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention and that we were also talking to the Red Cross about their treatment. At the moment we were focussing our attention on the military campaign. Put to him that once the PoWs being held by British forces had been sorted into different groupings - the ‘regulars’ and ‘irregulars’ - it was possible that some would be sent to Guantanamo Bay, the PMOS said that he had no intention of getting drawn into a speculative debate about what might or might not happen in the future. The immediate issue was whether the PoWs were being treated properly under the terms of the Geneva Convention. We had established that they were. What should happen to them next was a different matter which would be discussed with our allies under the appropriate authority. Asked to explain what ‘in accordance with the Geneva Convention’ actually meant, the PMOS said that he was not an expert on the Convention. That said, it was about ensuring that all prisoners were treated properly - making sure that they received adequate food and that they were not harassed or intimidated, unlike the way Iraq had treated Coalition PoWs.
Asked if the un-uniformed Iraqi soldiers would be treated as PoWs, the PMOS said that anyone who had watched TV footage of Iraqi prisoners around Basra last night would have seen that they had been surrendering in civilian clothes, which obviously posed problems for the Coalition forces. That was an issue which was being addressed. Asked by the Mirror what the difference was between TV footage showing Iraqi PoWs and TV footage of Coalition PoWs, the PMOS pointed out that last night’s pictures had been taken from a distance and had shown the backs of people’s heads, thereby making it less humiliating for them. Questioned as to whether the PoWs being held by the British would be handed over to the Americans, the PMOS said that he had no information to suggest that was the case. Asked if he was saying that the prisoners would remain the UK’s responsibility, the PMOS said that the issue was currently under discussion.
Asked to clarify Jack Straw’s comment in a speech to the Newspaper Society today in which he had suggested that it was ‘increasingly probable’ that the first bombing of a marketplace in Baghdad last week was the result of Iraqi, rather than allied, action, the PMOS said we believed there was evidence to show that the culprit was an Iraqi aircraft defence missile. We also had our suspicions about the second bomb attack. However, because we were not there on the ground, we were unable to be 100% certain. Asked how sure the Foreign Secretary was, the PMOS said that Mr Straw would not have said what he had said today without due consideration. Put to him that the Prime Minister had made statements in the past without due consideration - the latest in his joint press conference last week with President Bush at Camp David when he had talked about captured British soldiers being executed, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister stood by his words. Not only were the bodies of the soldiers filmed some way away from their vehicle but they were also not wearing their protective clothing. Put to him that forensic evidence would surely prove conclusively what had happened to the soldiers, the PMOS repeated that we were not there on the ground and therefore talk about forensics was, frankly, fatuous.
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