‘The Iraq War: is Tony Blair the only one with bloody hands?’ by Sammy McNally

As the British parliament collectively points its finger accusingly at the Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, you might be excused for believing that Blair hadn’t actually asked parliament for its consent to go to war in Iraq in 2003. A war that resulted in chaos in Iraq and the wider region and caused hundreds of thousands of deaths of Iraqis and (even by MI5 own admission) significantly increased the risks of terror attacks in Britain itself.

You might also be excused for believing that many in political parties other than the Labour Party had resisted – what was probably Britain’s worst foreign policy decision since at least since the 2nd World War. In reality, there were those in the Tory Party who didn’t think any dossier (dodgy or otherwise) was necessary to go to war – and the Ulster Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party (small right wing Northern Ireland parties) have been consistent enthusiasts for foreign British military adventures.(All 12 Unionist MPs voted for war).

The millions of people on the streets in London protesting against going to war, Hans Blix, the designated United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq and many of Britain’s European allies plus most sensible foreign policy commentators were not heeded by the Blairites or by the right wing Tories and Unionists. The niceties of  the UN resolution were not of interest to those who saw maintaining the ‘special relationship’ with the US and asserting Britain’s right to go to war in a country and a region that was an ethnic and religious  powder keg – as more important.

Anyone with even a modicum of understanding of the political complexities of the region would have known that any military endeavour – could only be countenanced – when every other option had been explored and careful thought had been given to the consequences.

That Blair was guilty of manipulation of the intelligence and that he misrepresented the intelligence to parliament is not in doubt but that does not excuse the British parliament – given the available and ample evidence of both the illegality and recklessness of the war – of backing the Blair government.

Postscript: Sammy and I would like to mount a petition calling on the British House of Commons to apologise for the huge loss of life  and destruction in Iraq for which they voted. To get the Petition off the ground, we need four names/email addresses of people who would be willing to sign the Petition initially. If you’d like to be one of the four, just say so in the Comments to this blog, and I’ll be able to list your email address in establishing the Petition. We’d like to get it up and running as soon as possible, so if you’d like to give a thumb’s-up as soon as possible, that’d be great. Then when the Petition has been established, I’ll post the link on this blogsite so everyone who chooses can sign it. Much thanks in anticipation –  Jude