IRELAND'S RESPONSE TO ISG REPORT ON IRAQ WMD

C O N F I D E N T I A L DUBLIN 001517 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/07/2014 TAGS: MARR PREL KPDD SUBJECT: IRELAND'S RESPONSE TO ISG REPORT ON IRAQ WMD REF: SECSTATE 216020 Classified By: POLITICAL ECONOMIC COUNSELOR MARY YOUNG FOR REASONS 1.4. (B) AND (D) ¶1. (C) On October 7, Post delivered reftel talking points to Paul Gunning, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Deputy Regional Director for the Gulf and North America, after having discussed the ISG Report over the phone with him on October 6. Gunning said that the report reinforced the GOI's long-standing position that more information was required to determine the nature and extent of Iraq's WMD programs. He noted that, before the war, the GOI had wanted to give inspectors more time to provide answers to unanswered questions left over from the incomplete UN weapons inspections of the 1990s. Gunning related the GOI's hope that the ISG Report would shed more light on these questions. DALY