Downing Street Says

Asked if we were aware that the Prime Minister had met Gordon Pritchard when he was in Iraq in December, the PMOS said he was aware.

Put that Mr. Pritchard’s wife seemed to think that the Prime Minister had exploited the visit to Iraq, and had not done enough today to express his remorse, the PMOS replied that as he had said at lobby yesterday, the Prime Minister was deeply saddened by the death of yesterday’s victim, as he was by the other 100 soldiers who had died in Iraq. The Prime Minister had said that the key question was whether the soldiers in Iraq were there with the support of the Iraqi Government, which they were.

Were they there with the support of the United Nations, which they were. Were they working to help Iraqi democracy defend itself against those who were determined to defeat Iraqi democracy, which they were. What the Prime Minister found useful about the trip to Basra was to hear from front-line soldiers about their view of the increasing capacity of the Iraqi troops with whom they worked, and their enthusiasm to work with them. In the end, it would be that which would help secure the future for Iraq, and therefore make Iraq a more stable country, which was in our interest as well.

Put that as the Prime Minister had met Gordon Pritchard whilst in Iraq, was it appropriate for him to contact Mr. Pritchard’s widow, the PMOS replied that these sorts of things were dealt with in a private way, and that was how it should be.

Put that President Bush had said in his State of the Union address that democracy in Iraq would not be like democracy in the west, and what did he mean by that, the PMOS replied that he would rather not get into the business of commentating on President Bush’s speech. It was a fact that in Iraq, there was three distinct groupings, and therefore, what there had to be were institutions which reflected that balance. It was not unknown within this country to have similar situations where there had to be institutions that tried to reflect different ethnic groupings.

Put that it was sometimes alleged that the Prime Minister and John Reid had not visited injured soldiers, and was it true, the PMOS said it was not. The Prime Minister had visited soldiers privately in this country, and in Iraq. The Prime Minister had visited a hospital in Basra during his last visit there, but we did not believe that we should get into briefing those kinds of visits.

Put that it had been alleged that the Government was suppressing the number of soldiers who had been injured in Iraq, the PMOS said the journalist should speak to the MOD about the casualty figures.

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» Wednesday, February 1, 2006

Iraq

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