BRITAIN'S DUTY TO CONTINUE PATROLLING THE NO-FLY ZONES IN IRAQ

Robin Cook

Foreign Secretary
Foreign Commonwealth Office

Interview for BBC TV

EDITED TRANSCRIPT

18 February 2001

INTERVIEWER:
One newspaper says we were urging the US that this raid should take place, then another paper says that Bush did not even phone Blair before launching the air strike on Baghdad. Which of those two stories is true?

FOREIGN SECRETARY:
Oh, there's been a long consultation about this, but let’s be clear, our interest is in making sure that our British pilots are safe. Let’s remind ourselves why they are patrolling the southern no-fly zone. They’re patrolling it in order to prevent Saddam bombing the Shi’ite Muslims there, carrying out repression from the air against the Marsh Arabs. He used helicopter gunships in the area when he was free to do so. We want to make sure he can’t do that now. That’s why they are patrolling the space and have been doing so for some years. To that extent they have diminished the scale of repression that would otherwise be visited by Saddam on these centres of opposition. Now, the only reason that we do carry out some limited operations against his air defence mechanisms is because he keeps trying to shoot down British pilots and we cannot responsibly allow him to do that.

INTERVIEWER:
Why is it in that case we seem to be even more isolated than ever before? Almost every country has condemned these raids. Why is it that it’s only us doing them with the US and why such a hostile reaction?

FOREIGN SECRETARY:
Well, first of all I do think you are rather exaggerating when you say ‘almost every country’. I’ve actually only seen four or five countries named in the press and the reaction for instance of France, was relatively restrained. I’m very happy to answer France’s questions and will do so with my French colleague when I see him to discuss this issue. I’d appreciate it if the press here and in the international community would express their fury about the way in which Saddam Hussein continues to repress the people on the ground within the southern no-fly zone. For instance, it is only about 18 months ago since his people carried out the assassination of one the senior clerical figures in the Shi-ite community. When the Shi-ite community then demonstrated against it, Saddam’s troops fired against that crowd and they killed several hundred. Now that’s not me asserting that, that’s laid out in the report that the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights within Iraq. It is that repression by Saddam that should exercise us in our fury. Of course if we abandon the southern no-fly zone then Saddam once again will be free to carry out his repression from there with his helicopter gunships.

INTERVIEWER:
But, again, why is it just Britain and the US that are doing this? Why isn’t anyone else supporting us?

FOREIGN SECRETARY:
Well, this goes back about ten years to the time when Saddam tried to make an incursion into the Kurdish area in order to repress the Kurds and you’ll remember the two or three million Kurds streaming over the hillsides trying to get away from Saddam’s brutal military machine. That’s when the no-fly zones were created, by the US and the UK and at the time with France’s support. We’ve carried out that duty ever since. I must say that some of those who ask ‘why do we do it?’ would be the very people who would be asking ‘why are we not doing more?’ if we were to abandon the patrols and Saddam was to resume bombing his own people from the air. Remember, when he was free to fly over the northern Iraqi area he used chemical weapons against the Kurds. He killed 5,000 at Halabja. He’d go back to doing it again if we allowed him to.

INTERVIEWER:
Do you think there’s any danger he will try and retaliate, either attack some installations here or in America – I mean, not by long-range missiles - but by some other means?

FOREIGN SECRETARY:
Well, he does not have those long-range missiles precisely because of our long programme since the Gulf War to make sure that he cannot have a missile capacity. We’ve forced him to make sure he dismantles some of that programme and we did actually carry out some destruction of facilities – he was trying to reassemble them – during the operation three years ago. We don’t currently assess there being any high or serious risk of him being able to attack us but let me stress that in terms of the situation in the region we remain very vigilant. Saddam will certainly express his military ambition if he is given any chance to do so. Do remember he has never given up his claim to Kuwait. Indeed only a few weeks ago he reasserted that claim to Kuwait. This is a man who could plunge the region into war again if we allowed him to acquire the military capacity to do so. That is the whole point of our strategy towards Iraq.