Downing Street Says

» Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Iraq

Put that the Prime Minister had made clear today that there would be no cutting and running with regards to Iraq, but was there any sense within Downing Street to re-appraise the situation, given the Baker Report and General Sir Richard Dannatt’s recent comments, the PMOS replied that as the Baker Report was not yet published, it was always wise to not comment on unpublished reports. With regards to General Dannatt, what he had said was that the objective remained a unity democratic state in which the Iraqi Government was capable of looking after its own security and there was a prosperous economy. That was precisely our view. The people in the end who would decide how long we would stay in Iraq were the Iraqi Government, as they had been democratically elected. The PMOS said that that was the flip side that those who demanded that we got out soon did not answer. What could actually be done to ensure that a democratic Government remained in place? General Dannatt did also say that he was planning force packages for 2007/8, so the idea that he was suggesting that he was cutting and running was wide of the mark.

Asked about the Prime Minister’s comments about the radicalisation of young people, and that he had said that it was absurd to say that what was going on was radicalising young people, but by saying that, was he compromising what John Reid had said at a Labour Party meeting last night, the PMOS said that he could not comment on what John Reid had said, as it was a party meeting. However, the Prime Minister’s point was that of course, people used Iraq, as they had with Afghanistan, and the presence in Saudi Arabia, as an excuse. It was not the root cause of the issue. The root cause was what had produced 9/11. That came before Afghanistan and Iraq, and the other attacks that were mounted before then. Therefore, in terms of the root cause, it was not the root cause.

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» Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Iraq

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