STATEMENT BY JACK STRAW
UK FOREIGN SECRETARY

UK FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE

December 19, 2002

The Foreign Secretary said:

'The reports from the inspectors, Dr. Blix and Dr. El-Baradei, to the Security Council this afternoon show clearly that Iraq has failed to meet the obligations imposed on it by Security Council Resolution 1441, which requires them to make a full and complete disclosure of their weapons of mass destruction, the material to put those weapons of mass destruction together. And, as Dr. Blix has said, this means that we cannot have confidence - I would add to put it very mildly - that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction as it has claimed. This now means that Iraq faces even greater responsibilities to comply fully with the inspectors and co-operate fully with the United Nations if military action is to be avoided. This disclosure does not of itself trigger military action under Operational Paragraph Four, but it is a very serious failure to comply, and a clear warning has to go out to Iraq that they now have to co-operate fully with the United Nations and its inspectors as is required of them by international law.'