Downing Street Says

Asked if the Prime Minister would agree with Robin Cook’s suggestion last week that British troops were being placed under more risk as a result of the Prime Minister’s reluctance to distance the UK’s position on Iraq from that of the US, the PMOS said that as he had told journalists this morning, it was important to understand what it was we were in Iraq to do. We were not there for the sake of either UK or US diplomacy or to score points off each other. We were there to achieve a stable democracy. That meant having an agreed coherent strategy for the way forward. This was not a US strategy or a British strategy. It was a Coalition strategy which went with the grain of Iraqi opinion and reflected their concerns. The question was how best to achieve it. Was it through playing to the gallery, grandstanding or airing differences in public, which would give the Iraqis and our troops on the frontline conflicting messages? Or should it be done by focussing on reaching an agreed policy. In the Prime Minister’s firm view, it was the latter course which would best achieve our shared objective – handing over power to the Iraqi people as quickly as possible and allowing them to develop a stable democracy. Asked if he was insinuating that he would not brief on any serious disagreements between the British Government and US Administration were there to be any, the PMOS said that as Sir Jeremy Greenstock had underlined in his Today Programme interview this morning, the US and the British systems were working more closely in Iraq than they had ever done before. Obviously different options would have to be debated from time to time both within and between the two countries’ systems. That was a natural part of forming a coherent policy. The question was whether that was best done in the full glare of publicity or privately without the benefit of megaphone diplomacy.

In answer to further questions, the PMOS said that it was important for journalists not to get carried away by misconceptions regarding the nature of what we were and were not about. We were not about scoring UK v US performances. What we were about was achieving our joint goal, namely a stable Iraqi democracy.

Asked if the Prime Minister believed that the Leader of the Opposition was being unpatriotic by criticising the Government for not being more open about any disagreements with the US, the PMOS said that as a Civil Servant he was unable to comment on party political issues. As a general point, however, the Government believed that it was in the national interest, and those serving the national interest, that we preserved a united front and thought through the policy together. Put to him that the desire to preserve a united front laid the UK open to persistent claims that it was Washington’s poodle, the PMOS said that it obviously depended on how you looked at the question. For example, critics sitting in London, Washington or wherever would see things differently to someone like Sir Jeremy Greenstock who had been at the sharp end in Iraq and therefore saw quite clearly what our goal was.

2 Comments »

So the mistreatment of Iraqi POWs and the wilfull murder of innocent women and children goes "with the grain of Iraqi opinion and reflects their concerns"?

"Focussing on an agreed policy" – does that mean doing what the US tells us, even as the idiot Bremer continues to treat Iraq like his own plaything?

"Coherent policy"?!?! Where? When?

We know by now that TB just doesn’t have the guts to criticise the Yanks – even when they shoot our planes out of the sky and use our troops for target practise. I think in all honesty that he is maintaining this line, not because it is bad form to criticise one’s partners in crime (I fail to see how criticising some of the Americans actions is such a bad thing when it is obvious to the whole world), but because he wouldn’t have a clue what to do if the US said "ok Tony, how would YOU go about it".

"For example, critics sitting in London, Washington or wherever would see things differently to someone like Sir Jeremy Greenstock who had been at the sharp end in Iraq and therefore saw quite clearly what our goal was" – surely that also goes for TB and the rest of the government? Or does that apply only to "critics"?
Comment by PapaLazzzaru — 21 May 2004 on 5:19 pm | Link
No, he’s right. Airing those issues publically IS grandstanding – something you do when diplomacy fails, when you don’t expect that diplomacy can solve any problems that remain.

For example, in Northern Ireland, the only time you ever hear them slagging each other off nastily in the press is when the process has completely failed.

So long as the diplomats make headway in getting the job done, it’s the job of the politicians to shut up and support them.
Comment by Gregory Block — 22 May 2004 on 11:42 pm | Link

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Post a public comment

Name (required)
E-mail (required)
(You must give an email address, but it will not be displayed to the public.)
Website
(You may give your website, and it will be displayed to the public.)

Comments:

This is not a way of contacting the Prime Minister. If you would like to contact the Prime Minister, go to the 10 Downing Street official site.

Privacy note: Shortly after posting, your name and comment will be displayed on the site. This means that people searching for your name on the Internet will be able to find and read your comment.

Original PMOS briefings are © Crown Copyright. Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland. Click-use licence number C02W0004089. Material is reproduced from the original 10 Downing Street source, but may not be the most up-to-date version of the briefings, which might be revised at the original source. Users should check with the original source in case of revisions. Comments are © Copyright contributors. Everything else is © Copyright Downing Street Says.

» Thursday, May 20, 2004

Iraq

2 Comments »

Post a public comment

Search

Supported by

Recent Briefings

Archives

Links

Syndicate (RSS/XML)

Credits

Enquiries