Press conference with the Iraqi Prime Minister, Dr Iyad Allawi

21 December 2004

The Prime Minister stressed the importance of supporting Iraq's interim Government and the Iraqi people to enable free elections to be held on the 30 January, while on a visit to Baghdad today.

Read the press conference in full below:

Dr Allawi:

Really it is a pleasure and an honour to have our dear friend, Tony Blair, here in Baghdad. This shows the support of him personally to the political process and to Iraq, and also it shows the support of the United Kingdom to Iraq to the political process, to stability in Iraq. We have discussed and touched on very important topics, on the future of this country, on the political process, on stability, security, and we have the pledge of the United Kingdom to continue to support us, to keep on with ... and it is really a great pleasure to have the Prime Minister of Britain here in Baghdad. The security is of paramount importance as far as we are concerned in Iraq. We are moving in the right direction, we need probably to expedite forming our own security forces. We definitely now are engaged in the political process. We will have the elections on time. I am very excited personally for this election, this is what we have fought for, and we now are on the verge of for the first time in history really, having democracy in action in this country, and we look forward to this election to be inclusive. All Iraqis should participate in this election and whoever is not going to have a chance, the doors will be open for everyone to be included in the political process as we move steadily in establishing the rule of law, human rights and the constitution for Iraq. I ask my dear friend Tony Blair to give a statement now, and then we will take some questions.

Prime Minister:

Thank you Prime Minister. I feel a great sense of honour and also humility at being here, and I would like to thank you for your leadership and the immense courage that you and your colleagues have shown. I have just visited members of the Electoral Commission and met some of their staff, and I said to them that I thought that they were the heroes of the new Iraq that is being created, because here are people who are risking their lives every day in order to make sure that the people of Iraq get a chance to decide their own destiny democratically. And I would just like to say this very strongly to the outside world, whatever people's feelings or beliefs about the removal of Saddam Hussein and the wisdom of that, there surely is only one side to be on in what is now very clearly a battle between democracy and terror, and on the one side you have people who desperately want to make the democratic process work and want to have the same type of democratic freedoms that other parts of the world enjoy, and on the other side people who are killing and intimidating and trying to destroy a better future for Iraq. I thought when I saw the sign about vote and the future, just how important it was for people to recognise this is now about the future. And interestingly, talking to some of the United Nations staff that were there as well, their very, very strong commitment to making sure the elections are held, and also their belief from the work and the conversations they have had that people in Iraq actually do want to participate in this.

So I hope very much, like you Prime Minister, it goes ahead on an inclusive basis, I am sure it can do and should do, and also of course as we build up the capability of the Iraqi security forces, the police and the army and the other forces, of course that then brings forward the day when the multinational force can leave and then Iraq is there with the people in charge of their destiny, with Iraq in charge of its own future and with Iraq as a stable and democratic partner for this region and for the wider world, and that is a vision that everybody, not just in Iraq, but everybody in the whole of the international community should support. And as I say, I feel a sense of humility, I know it is a very tough challenge, you can see that and feel it, being here. I am sure there are parts of Iraq that are very much calmer, but here in Baghdad you feel the sense of the challenge and the difficulty that there is, and I have nothing but admiration for you and for your colleagues and everyone here, whether from the international community or Iraqis who are trying to make this country better, and you deserve our praise and our support, and also our gratitude I think, because you are striking an important blow for democracy everywhere.

When I meet the people working alongside the United Nations, Iraqis in fear of their life every day, because they are trying to bring freedom and democracy to their people, when I see their courage and their determination, and know that they speak for the vast majority of people in Iraq who want that democracy and freedom, then I know that we are doing the right thing. And whatever people felt about the original conflict, we the British aren't a nation of quitters. What is very obvious to me is that the Iraqi people here, they are not going to quit on this task either, they are going to see it through. And just imagine the difference that a stable and democratic Iraq would make, not just to people in Iraq, but throughout the whole of the region and the world. Now when I see that, yes I believe we did the right thing. And I would also say this to you, there are people dying in Iraq, but the reason people are dying is because of the terrorism and the intimidation and the people who are deliberately killing anyone trying to make this country better. So what should our response be as an international community? Our response should be to stand alongside the democrats, the people who have got the courage to see this thing through, and help them see it through. And I have got no doubt at all that that is the right thing for us to do.

Dr Allawi:

May I just interject here. Of course we in Iraq do greatly appreciate the sacrifices of the British people, the brave soldiers of Britain and other friendly nations. I assure you that all were for a very good cause, it is a cause not only to bring democracy to Iraq and to the Iraqis, but to ensure peace and stability in the region, as well as in the world. We have been all of us engaged in war against terrorism, and this is frankly a sacred war. Britain stood very tall against Nazism, and this was a worthwhile cause. I think what you are doing now is a great cause for humanity and for the future of the world.

Prime Minister:

I hope it is a very strong demonstration of our support for the government and our support for the people of Iraq too, and we know things are difficult with the security situation, but our desire is to help because we think the possibilities for Iraq are tremendous for the future and our job is to help support Iraq in that process of change from what was a very brutal dictatorship, eventually to a democracy.

Question:

Mr Allawi, how worried are you that the violence, particularly in this area, will mean that that democracy that you want in the election is going to be meaningless because there are going to be so many, particularly Sunnis, who don't vote, and would you in any circumstances consider postponing the elections ... or wait for stability to be restored?

Dr Allawi:

No, we are pressing ahead to have the elections on time, we are committed to have the elections on time. The majority of Iraqis are excited to have the elections on time. Definitely our enemies are determined to break our will. They will not prevail, we will not allow them to prevail. We are continuously engaged with the various constituencies of Iraqis to participate, we want it to be an inclusive election, we want everybody to be part of this election. We have been talking to the various elements and personalities, tribal leaders of all inclinations, backgrounds, to be part of the elections. We believe very strongly that as we move progressively in the political process, this would have an impact also on security, and province security. We have always expected that violence would increase as we approach the elections, but I am sure that the Iraqi people, with the help of our dear and good friends in the international community, we are going to be able to achieve this goal.

Question:

It seems inevitable that security and the violence will worsen this side of the elections. What guarantees are there, or hope, that the situation will get better after the elections?

Prime Minister:

Obviously, as the Prime Minister has just said, there will be a concerted attempt to try and break our will over the elections, and I think that everyone understands that obviously there will be violence that will continue even after an election. On the other hand, we will then have a very clear expression of democratic will, and what is interesting to me was talking to the United Nations officials here who were first of all absolutely committed to the electoral process, and secondly said to me in the strongest terms that all the work they were doing in every part of the Iraqi community indicated that people actually do want to participate. There is intimidation in certain areas, but no shortage whatever of people's desire to participate in democratic elections. And as actually we saw in Afghanistan, once those elections take place they have their own momentum. So I am not in any sense dismissive of the problems, there are major problems, of course there are, but I think holding the elections will, as the Prime Minister was implying a moment or two ago, have its own impetus towards greater security.

Question:

Prime Minister, can you just give us a sense of your feelings today. You flew here in secrecy, under armed protection, into what is still a safe zone, more than a year and a half after Saddam fell. Can you honestly say to yourself, this is what I meant to bring about when I said that we will ...?

Prime Minister:

That is a good question. I will tell you exactly what I felt coming in. Security is really heavy, you can feel the sense of danger that people live in here, but what I felt more than anything else was this, the danger that people feel here is coming from terrorists and insurgents who are trying to destroy the possibility of this country becoming a democracy. Now where do we stand in that fight? We stand on the side of the democrats, against the terrorists. And so when people say to me well look at the difficulties, look at the challenges, I say well what is the source of that challenge? The source of that challenge is a wicked destructive attempt to stop this man, this lady, all these people from Iraq who want to decide their own future in a democratic way, having that opportunity. And where should the rest of the world stand, to say well that is your problem, go and look after it, or you were better off with Saddam running the country, as if the only choice they should have in the world is a choice between a brutal dictator killing hundreds of thousands of people, or terrorists and insurgents. There is another choice for Iraq, the choice is democracy, the choice is freedom, and our job is to help them get there because that is what they want. And you know sometimes when I see some of the reporting of what is happening in Iraq in the rest of the world, I just feel that people should understand how precious what is being created here is. And those people from that Electoral Commission that I have described as the heroes of the new Iraq, every day, a lot of them aren't living in the green zone, they have got to travel in from outside, they do not know at any point in time whether they are going to be subject to brutality or intimidation, even death, and yet they carry on doing it. Now what a magnificent example of the human spirit, and that is the side we should be on.

Dr Allawi:

I may add a few points to what Prime Minister Blair has said. Iraqis do not see what happened as invasion, as I clearly said that we deeply appreciate the commitment of the international community to have helped the Iraqi people to rid Iraq of ... and to stand with us in fighting terrorism. Frankly what you see now, the security, is a manifestation of a war that is being waged against us by evil forces. We have to stand firm, we have to stand tall, we have to defeat the insurgents, we have to defeat the evil forces, we have to defeat terror, and this is really to protect the whole world and the generations to come. We are adamant that we are going to proceed with the democracy, with the freedom, with the rule of law, with respect of human rights, these are the important values that have been brought into Iraq, and for the first time the Iraqis feel the sense of liberty, it is a dream which is becoming true. We don't expect forces ... against us just to stand idle, to see this huge construction going ahead in a peaceful way. This what you see now, inshallah will disappear in the very near future.

Question:

Inaudible.

Dr Allawi:

I still think that Iraqis can do it better than the multinational forces. We are deeply appreciative of the role of the multinational forces, we are moving ahead in building our own security. There are constraints, definitely, for various reasons, but we are much better off than we were six months ago. We now have some army, we have some police, we are active. The Iraqi army and the Iraqi police spearheaded the cleaning up of Fallujah, we are still developing our capabilities in the field of security and this is what we have been even discussing today in fact with Prime Minister Blair, and we hope that we can expedite until such a point that the Iraqis themselves will be shouldering the responsibility.

Prime Minister:

If I can make just one final point as well, just leading out of something the Prime Minister has just said. He made the point that it was important for the future of the world, for the future of everyone, not just to Iraq. I want to emphasise that. Sometimes people say to me what has this got to do with Britain's security? It has got this to do with Britain's security. If Iraq becomes a stable democratic country and we defeat the terrorism here, which is the same type of terrorism that we face the world over, if we defeat it here we deal it a blow worldwide. If Iraq is a stable and democratic country, that is good for the Middle East and what is good for the Middle East is actually good for the world, including Britain, and that is why it is important for us too.

Question:

Inaudible.

Prime Minister:

I know I had an early start this morning, but ...

Dr Allawi:

We are talking to people to be part of the political process and the political progress of Iraq, and we have made a distinction between those who committed crimes under Saddam's rule, and those who were just part of the Baath Party had to join in. So we are talking to people, yes, we want inclusivity.