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September 20, 2004

War

Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. - George W. Bush - On deck of USS Abraham Lincoln, under banner saying 'Mission Accomplished,' - 1 May 2003

Whatever the disagreements about the first conflict in Iraq to remove Saddam, in this conflict now taking place in Iraq, this is the crucible in which the future of this global terrorism will be determined. - Tony Blair - 10 Downing St, London - 19 Sep 2004

When war is declared, truth is the first casualty.Arthur Ponsonby

As I recall, the original rationale for the invasion of Iraq was to remove the threat of Saddam Hussein and his WMDs, and thus make the World a safer place. We now know that Saddam didn't have any WMDs, that there were no links between his Baathist regime and Al Qaeda, that the intelligence material was (as a minimum) massage to gain the aquiesence of Parliament. And in May of last year, George W. Bush (War President), landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln to effectively declare the war over.

Was the world a safer place afterwards?

Was Iraq a safer place afterwards?

Was a massively damaging blow inflicted upon Al Qaeda?

I defy anyone to honestly answer yes to any of the above questions.

And so yesterday we were treated to the odious sight of Tony Blair dishonestly urging us to support a second war in Iraq. Dishonest because only a duplicitous fool would fail to accept that the original war never ended. So now we're faced with a dilemma, especially those of us opposed to the war in the first place. Without a shadow of a doubt, we must do something to resolve the situation in Iraq given our prior culpability.

But a second war is not the solution; and Blair is not the man to lead any push for peace.

If we, as a nation, truly possess the will to make Iraq a better place, then we must place certain demands upon Tony Blair:

1. An acknowledgement that any solution to bring peace to Iraq must be based on humanitarian principles rather than military objectives.

2. That he apologise for lying to his Party, to Parliament and to the United Kingdom over the reasons for war.

3. That he immediately stand down as both leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister.

Only if all of the above are met, would I be prepared to accept a greater commitment of this country's resources to Iraq. Because as long as Blair is Prime Minister, his motives cannot be trusted, his pronouncements cannot be believed and his actions remain questionable. No country should accept such a failure of leadership.

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Posted by Clive on September 20, 2004 1:55 PM in the category Old Stuff

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