THE FUTURE OF IRAQ AND THE ROADMAP
FOR PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

SPEECH BY JACK STRAW
UK FOREIGN SECRETARY

UK FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE

April 30, 2003

OPENING REMARKS

My Lord Mayor, Lady Mayoress, Your Excellencies, Aldermen, Mr Recorder, Sheriffs, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great honour for me to address this, my second Easter Banquet.

When I addressed this banquet last April, I reflected on the principles, which should lie at the heart of our efforts to establish a peaceful and prosperous world. A world where every nation has an obligation to meet its global responsibilities; where the international community has the right to make judgements about countries' internal affairs when they flagrantly flout or fail to abide by global values; where we work together to resolve the persistent conflicts which threaten us all.

One year on, I take pride in the steps the UK has taken to put these principles into effect. In Afghanistan, British troops and aid are helping to resurrect a country from the ashes of years of conflict. Since the downfall of the Taliban, we have seen one of the greatest movements of people in human history. Almost 2 million Afghan refugees have returned to their homeland in the past 18 months.

We are working with Governments across the world to promote the universal values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. As the great Karl Popper observed in 1945, 'We must plan for freedom and not only for security, if for no other reason than that only freedom can make security secure.' But we do not need to look to the historical precedents to know that where these values flourish, peace and prosperity follow.

Nowhere in the world today is there a greater demand for these values than in Africa. There we have been working with governments from across Africa to deliver a brighter future for the continent. Three years ago the people of Sierra Leone lived in a Hobbesian world, their future in the hands of brutal rebels. Today, thanks largely to British troops, they can reflect on successful democratic elections last year, and look forward to a peaceful future.

Under the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NePAD), progressive African governments are embarking on the path of political and economic reform. But NePAD's reach is not yet universal. Zimbabwe remains in the grip of an authoritarian regime, morally and economically bankrupt. But we will not abandon the Zimbabwean people. We seek what they seek: a stable, prosperous and democratic Zimbabwe.

The United Kingdom has also acted to tackle some of the world's most intractable disputes. Last spring, active British diplomacy helped to pull two states armed with nuclear weapons - India and Pakistan - back from the brink of conflict.

THE FUTURE OF IRAQ

My Lord Mayor,

This crisis was a reminder that the principal purpose of diplomacy is to resolve conflicts of power or interests by peaceful means. But diplomacy works more effectively if it is backed by the credible threat of force and, as a last resort, by the use of force itself provided that force is legitimate and proportionate.

No less than twelve years of diplomacy, a plethora of mandatory UN resolutions, and a world united behind a demand that the former Iraqi regime disarm had no impact on Saddam Hussein's ambitions to develop the world's deadliest weapons. For over a decade the weight of international law counted for nothing in respect of Iraq.

But what the long process of diplomacy did achieve was a widened understanding of the need for the international community to confront the defiance of its will. Without the long and in the end successful process which led to the passage of UNSCR 1441, and the even longer and ultimately unsuccessful process to obtain the so-called 'second resolution,' we would not have so amply demonstrated our commitment to exhausting all possible avenues to a peaceful outcome to this crisis.

As a result of our actions, Iraq today is a better place. It no longer threatens its neighbours or the wider world. Its future lies in the hands of its people, not with a despotic elite. In removing the threat from Saddam's weapons and ending his tyranny, we struck a blow against dictatorship, signalled that UN resolutions cannot be flouted with impunity, and underlined our determination to confront the greatest challenge to our security in the twenty first century - the spread of weapons of mass destruction. With regard to the weapons of mass destruction, assembling an accurate picture of Saddam's programmes will take time. Coalition forces are now actively pursuing sites, documentation and individuals connected with Iraq's WMD programmes.

Our investigation will not be a quick process. We know that for six months prior to the return of UN inspectors, Saddam put in place a systematic campaign of concealment. So it's hardly surprising that concrete evidence of WMD has yet to come to light.

Until we are able to question the scientists and experts who worked on these programmes - and the UN has a list of 5,000 names - progress will inevitably be slow. But as these individuals come forward and begin to speak freely, I am confident that answers to some of the numerous unresolved questions about Saddam's weapons programmes - which have been catalogued in such damning detail by UNMOVIC - will emerge.

And I am confident that the dire predictions of some about the fate of the United Nations will prove unfounded. We will seek the adoption of new United Nations Security Council Resolutions which reaffirm Iraq's territorial integrity, ensure the rapid delivery of humanitarian relief and endorse an appropriate post-conflict administration for Iraq. I welcome the fact that the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, has appointed a Special Adviser for Iraq. Far from being consigned to the sidelines, in Iraq the UN should again prove its vital role in co-ordinating international assistance and reviving states which have been blighted by dictatorship. The experience of the UN will be brought to bear in helping to set Iraq on the path towards a prosperous and democratic future.

Fears about the future of transatlantic relations are equally misplaced. While I am the first to accept that a great deal of diplomatic crockery was broken in the run-up to military action, the United States, Europe and other major countries are already beginning to set aside their differences in delivering the humanitarian relief the Iraqi people need, and in developing the administration which will take Iraq into a brighter future.

Well before coalition action in Iraq, we saw the re-emergence of a strand of opinion which contends that Britain has to make a choice between the United States or Europe. This is entirely a false choice. Today, perhaps more than at any other time over the past 50 years, our security and prosperity depend on a strong transatlantic partnership. When the United States and Europe are united, there is no stronger force for good in the world. The divide that matters in the world as we now find it is the real and serious divide between our common security, and all those who would threaten it.

The European Union's Security and Defence Policy is an expression of this transatlantic partnership and of the model of an open, inclusive European Union which Britain supports. EU peacekeepers supported by NATO assets are working together today to maintain stability in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. We want to extend and deepen this strategic partnership between the key institutions for European security. Only a strong transatlantic ESDP will keep NATO strong. We must resist anything which seeks to separate Europe from America, to create division and duplication where we need greater understanding and co-operation to tackle the threats we face.

And to those who argue that the coalition action has presented al-Qa'ida and its sympathisers with some kind of propaganda coup, I simply say this. The removal of Saddam Hussein's regime has served to liberate millions of Iraqi Muslims from brutality and fear - the very conditions upon which al-Qa'ida preys. The Iraqi people know now that they have the chance to build a just society based on the values Bin Laden and his ilk fear most: democracy, respect for human rights, and the rule of law.

I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge facing us in Iraq. Despite the swift nature of the military campaign, nobody in Government is complacent about the campaign to win the peace. Democracy will not come easily to a country where there has been no recent tradition of party politics, freedom of speech nor of popular mandates. In the weeks and months following the collapse of the Iraqi regime, there will be no shortage of individuals and groups determined to redress grievances inflicted during Saddam's reign of terror.

In a timely article in The Guardian last week, Paddy Ashdown, the international community's High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina, reminded us that based on recent experience in the Balkans, the rule of law is often the first victim of a power vacuum. The civil disorder which we recently witnessed across the cities of Iraq was a powerful reminder that the challenges for the international community did not disappear with the collapse of the Ba'ath regime. Thankfully, we are now seeing considerable improvements in the situation. Coalition forces, working with ordinary Iraqi people, are beginning to bring stability to the streets of Iraq. It is a partnership - of the international community working together with ordinary Iraqi people - which will, more generally and in the longer term, bring peace, prosperity and stability back to Iraq.

We see three phases to the reconstruction process. In the first phase, the coalition and the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) will have responsibility under the Geneva and Hague conventions for ensuring that Iraq's immediate security and humanitarian needs are met. In this first phase - which I hope will last only a relatively short while - the role of coalition and ORHA personnel will be to ensure that the coalition's legal responsibilities to the people of Iraq are fully met. ORHA will initially work alongside Iraqi officials at the national and local level, and facilitate the work of the international organisations including UN agencies, NGOs and the IFIs.

The second phase, beginning as soon as possible, will see the establishment of a broad-based, more representative Iraqi Interim Authority. Our aim is to work with the UN Secretary General, coalition and military leaders and others to help the Iraqi people to identify which leaders might participate in this Interim Authority. Once established, it will progressively assume the functions of government.

The third phase will then bring into being a fully representative Iraqi government, once a new constitution has been approved and elections have been held.

It's difficult to overstate the significance of the establishment of democracy in Iraq. For the Iraqi people themselves, they will finally have the chance to build a prosperous future based on the rule of law rather than the Ba'ath party's rule of the jungle. The country's oil wealth will not be squandered on palaces and weapons, but channelled into schools and hospitals.

More widely, the establishment of a representative, elected government should help to nail the myth - perpetrated in the West as much as anywhere else - that Islam and democracy are mutually exclusive. Almost half a billion Muslims have embraced the values of democracy in countries as diverse as India, Turkey and Indonesia. Would anyone question the right of 22 million Muslims in Iraq to join them? A democratic Iraq could become a model for its neighbours, an example that ethnic, tribal and confessional differences should be no barrier to national well-being. I can think of no finer monument to the millions of victims of Saddam's dictatorship.

THE ROADMAP

But nobody is pretending that coalition action in Iraq has addressed at a stroke all of the region's ills. We will never establish lasting stability in the Middle East until its most intractable dispute is resolved: the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians.

Over the past 12 months, the UK has played a leading role in efforts to establish the conditions for a lasting settlement of this terrible conflict. The suicide bombing in Tel Aviv last night was a horrific reminder of the depths the terrorists will plumb. I have no doubt that the timing of this atrocity was very deliberate. Whenever Palestinian and Israeli hopes for peace have been raised in the past, the terrorists have acted to perpetuate the cycle of violence.

And this evening the men of violence have reason to be concerned. Earlier today Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas's Cabinet was approved by the Palestinian Legislative Council. And in the last few hours the Quartet's Roadmap has been presented to the Israeli and Palestinian authorities. This is the best possible fillip for the advocates of peace.

The Roadmap - drawn up by the United States, the EU, Russia and the UN - charts a course to a lasting settlement by 2005: a secure state of Israel and a viable Palestinian state, consistent with UN Security Council resolutions and the principle of land for peace. This would not just bring an end to the misery of millions of Israelis and Palestinians who live every day under the shadow of indiscriminate violence. It would remove the single greatest source of resentment and mistrust, which bedevils relations between the West and the Muslim world.

Israeli and Palestinian leaders now need to back the words of the Roadmap with deeds. At times this will not be easy. If dialogue is to prevail, we will need visionary leadership and courageous statesmanship from both sides.

For our part, the UK will do everything possible to ensure that this process succeeds. I welcome President Bush's commitment to bring as much energy to this cause as the Prime Minister has devoted to the search for peace in Northern Ireland. We will maintain our very close dialogue with the US, the EU, Russia and the UN to push this process forward and to help with its implementation.

CLOSING REMARKS

My Lord Mayor,

It's impossible to predict accurately what historians will make of the momentous developments of recent weeks. Some will choose to focus on how the disarmament of Saddam's WMD complemented the international community's overall efforts to prevent the spread of the world's deadliest weapons. Others may examine the impact of the collapse of the Iraqi regime on the spread of democratic values in the Arab world. And it's safe to assume that some will focus on the UK's role during the military action and the months preceding it, and how that reflected on our standing in the world at the time.

Any number of theories have been advanced to explain the UK's abiding interest in and influence on international affairs. We have never been a country to sit on the sidelines and watch events unfold before our eyes. But there's more to it than this. Our membership of the European Union and the Commonwealth gives us diplomatic partners in most corners of the globe. The popularity of the English language gives our culture an entrée to every country on the planet. And our permanent membership of the UN Security Council gives us huge influence in the world's most important decision-making forum.

But I would like to pay a special tribute this evening to the role of the City. In his compelling work, 'The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers,' Paul Kennedy demonstrated how political influence down the centuries has been built on economic dynamism. Standing here this evening within the boundaries of the Square Mile, I don't need to tell this audience how much impact the City's reputation as one of the world's premier financial centres has on our standing in the world.

Over the past twelve months, the Lord Mayor has done more than any other individual to promote the City. He's also collected as many air miles as any Foreign Secretary, visiting twenty countries in the past 12 months and spreading the City's renown to all corners of the globe.

So I am sure you will all agree that he deserves our vote of thanks. I ask you all to join me in a toast to the Lord Mayor and the Lady Mayoress.