Downing Street Says » Saddam’s Execution

Asked for the timing of the Prime Minister’s personal statement on Saddam’s execution, the PMOS replied that he was slightly mystified by the coverage of this. The Prime Minister had set out on many occasions his opposition to the death penalty, including how it related to Saddam Hussain in particular, well before the sentencing, and actually between sentencing and execution. Secondly he recognised that Iraq was a sovereign country, and therefore like any other sovereign country was entitled to reach its own decision on matters such as the death penalty. He also recognised that there were very strong emotions in Iraq surrounding Saddam, not least because of the brutal outrages that Saddam had carried out. Thirdly, at last week’s briefing it was made clear that we supported the Iraqi government’s decision to launch an inquiry into what went wrong in the events surrounding the execution. Therefore the idea that we hadn’t expressed a view was factually not borne out by the facts.

Put to him that the Prime Minister had an opportunity last week during his interviews on Northern Ireland to put this matter to bed in one simple sentence, the PMOS responded that the Prime Minister’s view was that if he had responded on either of the two occasions on Thursday and Friday, it would have completely crowded out coverage of what he thought were important messages both on Northern Ireland and on the health service. He added that the amount of time and effort that the Prime Minister had devoted to Northern Ireland over his Christmas period underlined the importance of the period that we were in.

Asked if the Prime Minister thought that other senior cabinet Ministers should have waited until after he had expressed his own view, given that coverage of the Prime Minister’s words on the health service were crowded out by senior Ministers’ views on the execution, the PMOS replied that the premise of the question was wrong. He had been listening to bulletins in Northern Ireland and the coverage of the health service was there and the coverage of Saddam’s execution was not. Asked further whether senior members of the cabinet should have waited until after the Prime Minster to express their view, the PMOS replied that they were asked direct questions. He repeated that the Prime Minister had important things to say and did not want them crowded out. Put to him that therefore the Prime Minster would not respond to any breaking news story or event if he already had an agenda for that day, the PMOS reiterated that there was no mystery what the Prime Minister’s view was on this. He opposed the death penalty; he recognised however that Iraq was a sovereign country; he supported the decision of the Iraqi government to set up an inquiry after it recognised that something had gone wrong. There was no mystery.

Put to him that the Prime Minister had said on Friday that he would have something to say on the issue this week, the PMOS replied that he would, but repeated that there would be no mystery about what he would say. Asked when he would say this, the PMOS replied that the Prime Minister would choose the appropriate moment. Asked if the Prime Minster agreed that the manner of the execution was deplorable, the PMOS replied that the Prime Minister agreed that it had gone wrong, and therefore that was why the Iraqi government had set up the inquiry, and therefore that was why we supported that inquiry.

Asked firstly to clarify that the Prime Minster did not object to the Iraqi death penalty but to the manner it was carried out, and that given his position on democracy and right and wrong, should the Prime Minister not have been more outspoken in urging the Iraqis to turn a new page an abolish the death penalty, the PMOS replied that the Prime Minister’s views on the death penalty pre-dated the whole controversy by decades. The people who installed the Iraqi government were the people of Iraq, that was called democracy. A sovereign government had the right to reach its own decision on the death penalty irrespective of what other governments thought, that again was called democracy. They may take decisions that we disagree with, but that again was democracy. Either a country was sovereign or it was not.

Asked if it was the case, given what the Chancellor had said yesterday, that the initiative had passed from the Prime Minister to the Chancellor and that we had to wait for the Chancellor rather than the Prime Minister to express a lead on the manner of the execution, the PMOS pointed to last week’s lobby where we publicly supported the setting up of the inquiry. Put to him that the Prime Minister had not expressed a view on the manner of the execution, the PMOS replied that by supporting an inquiry into what went wrong we had expressed a view. Put to him that it was possible to both support the inquiry and to disagree that the manner of the execution was deplorable, the PMOS replied that the inquiry was set up in the context of the Iraqi government expressing its shame at what went on. Asked that if the view was clearly expressed last week, why was it necessary to set out the view again yesterday, and was there not the danger that in doing so crowded out the very important messages that the Chancellor made in the morning, the PMOS replied that the media were suggesting that we had not expressed a view, so people were reminded what that view was.

Asked what the Prime Minister’s view was of the Chancellor’s comments about Saddam’s execution, the PMOS replied that the comments were in line with those made earlier by the Deputy Prime Minister and therefore should come as no surprise. Put to him that John Prescott was speaking in a personal capacity, the PMOS replied that John Prescott had expressed his view, and we had expressed ours.

Asked if the Prime Minister’s intention by delaying a formal public statement was to concentrate on President Bush’s plans for the way forward on Iraq and wrap the two together, the PMOS replied that what people on this side of the Irish Sea did not quite clock, was just how significant developments last Thursday on Northern Ireland were. Therefore the Prime Minister’s desire was not to crowd those out, equally with his announcement on the health service. In terms of the Americans’ plans, they would announce their plans when they were ready. A general point was that Basra and Baghdad were two separate scenarios. In Baghdad there was a sectarian conflict, which on the whole Basra did not have. In Basra there was Operation Sinbad, now halfway through, and that was having its impact as the Iraqis took more and more control. Therefore the circumstances on the ground were different and it was inevitable that whatever the Americans announced, it would be tailored to the needs of Baghdad as they saw it on the ground, rather than Basra.

Asked if there had been any decision regarding British troops and whether perhaps more would be sent or whether he would rule this out, the PMOS replied that the position had not changed since Margaret Beckett updated the Commons.

Asked if the Prime Minister had had any communication with Mr Putin over the past two or three weeks, the PMOS replied that he was not aware of any.

Asked whether any President Bush announcement on sending more troops to Iraq would imply that the British would have to follow suit, the PMOS replied that decisions would be made based on circumstances on the ground in our area. The Americans would make their decisions based on the circumstances in their area.

Asked again when the Prime Minister would say something this week, the PMOS replied that he would decide when the appropriate moment was.

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» Monday, January 8, 2007

Saddam’s Execution

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