Doing the Right Thing
18 March 2003
Regular readers of this column will know that I believe taking military action to disarm Iraq without the support of the United Nations would be the wrong way to do the right thing.
Why then will I be supporting the motion tonight (18 March) which allows the British Government to "use all means necessary to ensure the disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction" despite our failure to obtain United Nations support?
Mainly because that failure is not ours. I believe that we have done everything humanely possible to get that second resolution.
But when President Chirac announced last Monday that "whatever the circumstances France will vote no" he effectively disarmed the United Nations, not Iraq. He made it impossible for us to do the right thing the right way.
Where does that leave people like myself who believe that Iraq must be disarmed as quickly as possible? The choice is stark. Do the wrong thing the right way by voting against the enforcement of Resolution 1441 by the quartet of Britain, Portugal, Spain and the United States? Or do the right thing the wrong way and back that enforcement? Or do nothing and abstain?
I agonized over these choices. Eventually, I decided to abstain. Then several things happened. I had a meeting with the Prime Minister of Northern Iraq, Barham Salih. His description of what life would be like for his people if the pressure was taken off Saddam Hussein made me realise that sitting on the fence was not an option. Something had to be done.
I became aware of the dangers of allowing the United States to go it alone. If Britain withdrew its support it would lose its ability to influence the post-conflict restructuring of Iraq. We needed to stay in.
Abstention was no longer possible. Either I had to be for, or against, the disarmament of one of the worldsà most appalling tyrants. By doing nothing I was, as the philosopher Burke famously observed, about to let "evil succeed".
That is why tonight I will be voting for doing the right thing the wrong way. I will take comfort from the fact that the Prime Minister is determined to strengthen and reform the United Nations to ensure that, in future, we can do the right thing the right way.
The fact that he has persuaded President Bush that there must be a new Resolution giving the United Nations a mandate for the reconstruction of Iraq is hopeful. The promise to put the oil revenues of post conflict Iraq under United Nations control will give it real power to alleviate suffering.
The willingness to tackle the Israel/Palestine conflict through the Road Map to Palestinian Statehood by 2005 very encouraging. At last the United States has recognised the need for an Independent State of Palestine.
I hope with all my heart that I have done the right thing. I know that some of you will think that I have not. I understand and respect your position but, in the end, I had to do what my conscious dictated.
Barbara Follett MP
