Jeremy Greenstock

Sir Jeremy Greenstock
Sir Jeremy Greenstock in May 2013 being interviewed on BBC Scotland's "Sunday Politics" about Scottish independence
Alma mater	Harrow School
Member of	Center on Global Counter-Terrorism Cooperation, Ditchley/Governors, Ditchley/UK, Königswinter/Speakers
President of the United Nations Security Council In office 1 July 2002 - 31 July 2002  Chairman of the UNSC's Counter-Terrorism Committee In office October 2001 - April 2003  UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations In office October 2001 - April 2003  President of the United Nations Security Council In office 1 April 2001 - 30 April 2001  President of the United Nations Security Council In office 1 December 1999 - 31 December 1999  President of the United Nations Security Council In office 1 October 1998 - 31 October 1998

Jeremy Quentin Greenstock (born 27 July 1943) joined HM Diplomatic Service in 1969 and served until 2004. During this time he served in Washington, Paris, Dubai and Saudi Arabia. He is a former British Ambassador to the United Nations and was UK Special Representative for Iraq from 2003-2004.

Life and career

Jeremy Greenstock was born in Harrow on the Hill, north-west London, the son of Ruth Margaret (née Logan) and John Wilfrid Greenstock. He was educated at Harrow School and Worcester College, University of Oxford. He was an assistant master at Eton College from 1966 to 1969. Greenstock joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1969 and served until 2004. He served in the British embassies in Paris, Dubai, Washington DC and Saudi Arabia.

United Nations work

Sir Jeremy Greenstock was the United Kingdom Ambassador to the United Nations for five years, from 1998 to July 2003, where he attended over 150 meetings of the United Nations Security Council. From October 2001 to April 2003, he was Chairman of the Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee.

In June 2003 Sir Jeremy acted as the head of a Security Council mission to West Africa to assess the UN activities there, including the work of the United Nations Mission to Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL).

In February 2011, Sir Jeremy Greenstock was appointed Chairman of the UK branch of the United Nations Association (UNA-UK).

Iraq and aftermath

In September 2003, Sir Jeremy Greenstock was appointed the UK's Special Representative for Iraq, where he worked alongside Paul Bremer within the Coalition Provisional Authority.

Greenstock left his position in Baghdad in March 2004, on a timing agreed with the UK government.

Greenstock wrote a book about his role in the Iraq war that was expected to be released in the Autumn of 2005, but was withdrawn from publication at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Greenstock appeared on the Charlie Rose talk show on 14 May 2008 and explained some of the contents of his book. During the interview he stated categorically that British and American leaders had known since 1998 that Iraq under Saddam Hussein had no nuclear weapon capabilities or programs.

On 27 November and 15 December 2009, Sir Jeremy Greenstock gave evidence to the Iraq Inquiry regarding his time as Ambassador to the United Nations.

Situation in Syria

In September 2013, Sir Jeremy gave an exclusive interview to the Middle East Monitor about the situation in Syria, which concluded:

Greenstock believes that what we're seeing in many parts of the world, particularly in the Middle East and Africa, is how the boundaries and frontiers set by 20^th century politics don't fit the identity mix, the ethnic, religious, sectarian and political society arrangements of the 21^st century. People from the same tribe are often divided by borders. We live more and more in a virtual world where communications, business, lobbying and demonstrating take place across the world, both physically and virtually. Communicating via Twitter and Facebook means we live in a global space where we are less conscious of these borders.

"The identity mosaic of a free world doesn't fit the national boundary setting of the 20^th century," he says, later explaining: "The West has to be careful about intervention to sustain a situation that no longer carries the same legitimacy."

Post retirement

Since leaving HM Diplomatic Service, Sir Jeremy has held numerous positions. He was the Director of The Ditchley Foundation until August 2010 and a Special Adviser to BP plc from July 2004 to June 2010. Currently, he is the Chairman of the United Nations Association of the UK, as well as the Chairman of Gatehouse Advisory Partners and of Lambert Energy Advisory Ltd. He is an adviser to the International Rescue Committee-UK and to the NGO "Forward Thinking", and a Non-Executive Director of De La Rue plc.

In May 2013, BBC Scotland's "Sunday Politics" programme announced that the UK Government would back a Scottish application for United Nations membership, which would entail an independent Scotland becoming the UN's 194th Member State and being seated alphabetically between Saudi Arabia and Senegal. Sir Jeremy Greenstock commented:

"Scotland would be very welcome at the United Nations, which is highly in favour of self-determination and of a new people expressing itself if it's organised and consensual. I wouldn't see any trouble in any of that. But it's a process that has to be gone through.

"Diplomatically, it would need to form alliances and partnerships. The UK can't do without those. The impact that the UK has would be lost to Scotland. But Scotland would be speaking with the voice of Scotland. It would have the Scottish label but it would have to establish the impact through the performance of the individuals at High Representative level - that's very important."

On 29 January 2014, former diplomat Patrick Haseldine emailed Sir Jeremy Greenstock and posed the following question:

"If the UK Government fails to 'Support a United Nations Inquiry into the deaths of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld and UN Assistant Secretary-General Bernt Carlsson', could an independent Scotland - the UN's 194th Member State - prevail and ensure that a United Nations Inquiry is conducted into their deaths?"

Sir Jeremy's secretary Natalie Saad replied on 21 February 2014:

Dear Patrick,

I forwarded on your email as requested to Sir Jeremy Greenstock who has been travelling abroad. Please find his response to you below:

Dear Patrick,

Thank you for the question. If Scotland secures membership of the UN as an independent state, it could of course make proposals in the UNGA. But it will need a lot of support to get a majority for a resolution on this topic, which would need to deal with the financial aspects of any enquiry. UNA-UK is unlikely to take up an active position at this juncture but, more positively, can certainly support a United Nations Inquiry into the deaths of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld and UN Assistant Sec-Gen Bernt Carlsson.

Yours sincerely,

Jeremy Greenstock

Regards

Natalie

Natalie Saad

Administrative Assistant

United Nations Association – UK

3 Whitehall Court, London SW1A 2EL

tel. +44 (0) 20 7766 3454

fax. +44 (0) 20 7000 1381

The United Nations Association – UK (UNA-UK) is a charitable company limited by guarantee (no. 1146016).

 

Event Participated in

Event	Location(s)	Description
Brussels Forum/2010	Brussels Belgium	Yearly discreet get-together of huge amount of transatlantic politicians, media and military and corporations, under the auspices of the CIA and NATO-close German Marshall Fund.

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.

External links

• Sir Jeremy Greenstock's Biography on the United Nations Association of the UK website
• UNA-UK website
• Greenstock statement in full, BBC, 17 March 2003
• Coalition 'misanalysed' Iraq mood, BBC, 26 March 2004
• Iraq 2004: What went wrong, BBC, 1 January 2005
• No 10 blocks envoy's book on Iraq, The Guardian, 17 July 2005
• FO accused of censoring insider book on Iraq war, The Guardian, 18 July 2005
• Ex-Blair envoy gives Iraq warning, BBC, 23 September 2005

This page imported content from Wikipedia on 28 January 2014.
Wikipedia is not affiliated with Wikispooks.   Original page source here