PAUL WOLFOWITZ AND THE REASONS FOR INVADING IRAQ

Early day motion 1410, tabled 12 June 2003 by Llew Smith (Labour). Signed by 33 members.

That this House notes the statement by the United States Deputy Secretary for Defense, Paul Wolfowitz, at the IISS Asian Security Summit in Singapore on 31st May when he said 'Let's look at it simply. The most important difference between North Korea and Iraq is that economically, we just had no choice in Iraq. The country swims on a sea of oil'; observes that these transparent remarks follow another clear statement about the real reasons for invading Iraq in an interview given to the current issue of the US magazine, Vanity Fair, where he said 'for reasons that have a lot to do with the US Government bureaucracy, we settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on: weapons of mass destruction'; recalls the comment made by the honourable Member for Blaenau Gwent in the debate on Iraq last September that 'If we should decide to go to war with Iraq, it will not be a war against Saddam Hussein, weapons of mass destruction, or terrorism ... it will be about oil.' (24th September 2002, Official Report, column 131); further recalls that the Prime Minister has dismissed points put to him by several honourable Members, on several occasions, that oil was the reason for the war, as conspiracy theory; and calls upon the Prime Minster to make public the full details of the basis on which the Cabinet backed the US in its invasion of Iraq.

Signatures by party: Labour 20, Liberal Democrat 9, Plaid Cymru 2, Conservative 1, Scottish National Party 1.