HC Deb 20 October 2003 vol 411 cc356-7W
Mr. Marshall-Andrews

To ask the Solicitor-General pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for Stone (Mr. Cash) of 17 March 2003,Official Report, column 515W, on Iraq, to what extent, in concluding that it was plain that Iraq had failed to comply with Resolution 1441, the Attorney-General relied upon facts and assertions contained in the Government dossier published in January as material to hip conclusion and to the opinion he gave as to the authority to use force, specifying which such facts and assertions were so relied upon. [131002]

The Solicitor-General

The Attorney-General did not rely at all on the Government dossier published or 30 January in reaching the conclusion that Iraq had failed to comply with resolution 1441 and in stating his view that a legal basis for the use of force existed in the combined effect of UN Security Council resolutions 678, 687 and 1441. However, it was material to that conclusion that there was intelligence evidence that the Iraqi authorities had intimidated scientists which UNMOVIC wished to interview; that rooms designated for such interviews had been bugged; and that some potential interviewees had been kept away from UNMOVIC by the Iraqi authorities and that there was evidence that Iraqi scientists had been intimidated into refusing interviews with UNMOVIC outside Iraq These points were also covered in the section or interviews in chapter one of the dossier.

Mr. Marshall-Andrews

To ask the Solicitor-General pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for Stone (Mr. Cash) of 17 March 2003,Official Report column 515W, on Iraq, whether, in concluding that it was plain that Iraq had failed to comply with Resolution 1441, the Attorney-General relied upon the facts and assertions contained in Chapter 3 paragraphs (a) two to five, (b) six to seven, (c) eight to 11, (d) 12 to 13, (e) 14, (f) 15, (g) 16, (h) 18 to 23 and (i) 24 to 32 of the Government dossier published in September 2002 as material to his conclusion and to the opinion he gave as to the authority to use force. [131003]

The Solicitor-General

The Attorney-General did not rely upon any facts or assertions contained in the Government dossier published in September 2002 as material to his conclusion set out in his statement of 17 March that Iraq had failed to comply with resolution 1441 and that a legal base for the use of force existed in the combined effect of UN Security Council resolutions 678, 687 and 1441.

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