Lest we forget

Blairs official spokesperson: "If Saddam Hussein co-operates, if he's serious about disarmament, then he can stay in power." (2003)

There was no ambiguity about the reasons for fighting. The only text which matters is the motion the Prime Minister put down in the House of Commons on 18 March, just before hostilities began. It asked members of Parliament to support the decision of Her Majesty's Government "that the United Kingdom should use all means necessary to ensure the disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction".

There was nothing else in the motion other than citations of various United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Regime change was not a British war aim. It won't do as a post facto justification, however much we may have subsequently learnt about the murderous tyranny of Saddam Hussein. For in his speech on 18 March, the Prime Minister stated: "I have never put the justification for action as regime change. We have to act within the terms set out in resolution 1441 - that is our legal base." After a long and tense debate, the motion was carried in the teeth of substantial dissent in the Prime Minister's own party. (2003)

via Darren at Media Lens Messageboard