Quote of the day
“One of the untold stories of Iraq is that we explored the diplomacy a lot. We all wanted to solve this ‘disclose, disarm, or face serious consequences’ in a diplomatic fashion. After all, I went to the United Nations security council.”
- George Bush, who has evidently forgotten how he ignored the UN and the weapons inspection team and invaded Iraq anyway.
Witanagemot Blogs
To give all sides an equal hearing, the UN appeared to be dragging its feet and kicking its heels, not to mix a metaphor, and generally acting like a bunch of wet flannels. I wouldn’t dream of attempting to retrospectively defend the actions of the US or UK governments in the run-up to the Iraq War, but the UN were making threats and then failing to carry through on them, suggesting that ultimately they would never actually do anything, just continue to write letters and pass resolutions.
It’s so difficult, with hindsight, to look back and recognise the different arguments that were being passed about. As someone who supported the war on the basis that Saddam Hussein had biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction that he was hiding from the UN inspectors, I find it hard to express in words the level of betrayal I felt as the events unfolded as they did. The fact that I defended Tony Blair’s decision and stuck my neck out to argue his case has ended up destroying any belief I once held that those in government were fundamentally decent if ideologically flawed.
As Bush says, though – he did go to the UN, and they passed a resolution which loosely supported military action, but then decided that they’d have to pass another resolution before acting on it. If the UN hadn’t been flirting with the threat of war like a drunken prom date, perhaps they would have been taken more seriously by the US. Think of it this way – if they had found a store of WMD, who would we have been complaining about?
I completely accept that evidence of WMD was sufficient justification for military action, but I was shocked and still am to this day that the UN weapons inspectors were not allowed to complete their work. The UN probably was too slow to act but everything hinged on the weapons inspectors’ findings yet there were ultimately brushed aside by the US.
I also supported the war on the grounds that the evidence presented by Blair and Powell was true, and like yourself I am left seething at the lies that were uncovered not long afterwards.
I also believed that no sane government of reasonable people would have planned a war without a good reason.
So when they tell us today 42 days really is a good and necessary thing I cannot possibly believe them. it is purely political.
Look tough… outflank the Tories.. bugger the public they don’t know anything anyway.. get my own way… begin fightback .. bribe MPs.. spend more.. all for one man’s vanity.
Yes, we have been here before, many times.
Impossible to disagree with that. This is all about Gordon Brown’s reputation hanging by a thread and has nothing to do with stopping terrorism. The fact that the legislation is rubbish makes it even worse!