*Ø* Blogmanac | Blair caves in
In what the Times describes as a 'complete u-turn', the UK prime minister has caved in and agreed to hold an inquiry into why no WMDs have been found in Iraq. It seems he was taken aback by the speed with which George Bush acceded to demands for a similar inquiry.
Quoting Jon Snow of Channel 4:
"The team is essentially an expanded version of the safe old Commons Intelligence Committee including its chair Ann Taylor, Colonel Michael Mates and several other dependable intelligence-related Knights and Lords. Ann Taylor's Intelligence Committee is, like this inquiry, appointed by Blair, accountable to him and reporting to him. Their report into the very issue of WMD and intelligence was, shall we say, er ... safe and very mildly critical of government.
"Crucially, it concluded that the claim that Iraq had been trying to buy yellow cake uranium from Niger was TRUE... we shall be talking to Ambassador Joe Wilson from the US, who investigated the claim and found it to be fraudulent. Former head of Defence Intelligence Sir John Walker says the remit of this inquiry is too narrow and that the reasons why Britain went to war need to be explored together with whether it was LEGAL."
* WMD inquiry is forced upon Blair
* The final reckoning
* Times: Ten key questions that will have to be answered
* Independent: Blair caves in to calls for WMD inquiry
In Blair's words:
'[Saddam's] weapons of mass destruction programme is active, detailed and growing. The policy of containment is not working'
September 24 2002
'I have got no doubt either that the purpose of our challenge from the UN is disarmament of weapons of mass destruction, it is not regime change'
November 18 2002
'Not only do we know that Saddam has weapons of mass destruction, we also know he is capable of using them'
November 30 2002
'We are now asked to accept that in the last few years, contrary to all history and all intelligence, he decided unilaterally to destroy the weapons. Such a claim is palpably absurd'
March 18 2003
'Tonight, British servicemen and women are engaged from air, land and sea. Their mission: to remove Saddam Hussein from power, and disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction'
March 20 2003
'Before people crow about the absence of weapons of mass destruction, I suggest they wait a little bit. I remain confident that they will be found"
April 28 2003
'I am absolutely convinced that and confident about the case on weapons of mass destruction ... you and others will be eating some of your words"
April 30 2003
Source
* Ø * Ø * Ø *
John Pilger:
"In the wake of the Hutton fiasco, one truth remains unassailed: Tony Blair ordered an unprovoked invasion of another country on a totally false pretext, and that lies and deceptions manufactured in London and Washington caused the deaths of up to 55,000 Iraqis, including 9,600 civilians.
"Consider for a moment those who have paid the price for Blair's and Bush's actions, who are rarely mentioned in the current media coverage [my emphasis - N]. Deaths and injury of young children from unexploded British and American cluster bombs are put at 1,000 a month. The effect of uranium weapons used by Anglo-American forces -- a weapon of mass destruction -- is such that readings taken from Iraqi tanks destroyed by the British are so high that a British Army survey team wore white, full-body radiation suits, face masks and gloves. Iraqi children play on and around these tanks. British troops, says the Ministry of Defence, 'will have access to biological monitoring'.
"Iraqis have no such access and no expert medical help; and thousands are now suffering from a related catalogue of miscarriages and hair loss, horrific eye, skin and respiratory problems ...
"Blair has, as ever, followed Bush. In announcing at the weekend his own inquiry into an 'intelligence failure', Bush hopes to cast himself as an innocent, aggrieved member of the public wanting to know why America's numerous spy agencies did not alert the nation to the fact, now confirmed by Bush's own weapons inspector, David Kay, that there were no weapons of mass destruction ... "
Full text at Information Clearing House
In what the Times describes as a 'complete u-turn', the UK prime minister has caved in and agreed to hold an inquiry into why no WMDs have been found in Iraq. It seems he was taken aback by the speed with which George Bush acceded to demands for a similar inquiry.
Quoting Jon Snow of Channel 4:
"The team is essentially an expanded version of the safe old Commons Intelligence Committee including its chair Ann Taylor, Colonel Michael Mates and several other dependable intelligence-related Knights and Lords. Ann Taylor's Intelligence Committee is, like this inquiry, appointed by Blair, accountable to him and reporting to him. Their report into the very issue of WMD and intelligence was, shall we say, er ... safe and very mildly critical of government.
"Crucially, it concluded that the claim that Iraq had been trying to buy yellow cake uranium from Niger was TRUE... we shall be talking to Ambassador Joe Wilson from the US, who investigated the claim and found it to be fraudulent. Former head of Defence Intelligence Sir John Walker says the remit of this inquiry is too narrow and that the reasons why Britain went to war need to be explored together with whether it was LEGAL."
* WMD inquiry is forced upon Blair
* The final reckoning
* Times: Ten key questions that will have to be answered
* Independent: Blair caves in to calls for WMD inquiry
In Blair's words:
'[Saddam's] weapons of mass destruction programme is active, detailed and growing. The policy of containment is not working'
September 24 2002
'I have got no doubt either that the purpose of our challenge from the UN is disarmament of weapons of mass destruction, it is not regime change'
November 18 2002
'Not only do we know that Saddam has weapons of mass destruction, we also know he is capable of using them'
November 30 2002
'We are now asked to accept that in the last few years, contrary to all history and all intelligence, he decided unilaterally to destroy the weapons. Such a claim is palpably absurd'
March 18 2003
'Tonight, British servicemen and women are engaged from air, land and sea. Their mission: to remove Saddam Hussein from power, and disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction'
March 20 2003
'Before people crow about the absence of weapons of mass destruction, I suggest they wait a little bit. I remain confident that they will be found"
April 28 2003
'I am absolutely convinced that and confident about the case on weapons of mass destruction ... you and others will be eating some of your words"
April 30 2003
Source
John Pilger:
"In the wake of the Hutton fiasco, one truth remains unassailed: Tony Blair ordered an unprovoked invasion of another country on a totally false pretext, and that lies and deceptions manufactured in London and Washington caused the deaths of up to 55,000 Iraqis, including 9,600 civilians.
"Consider for a moment those who have paid the price for Blair's and Bush's actions, who are rarely mentioned in the current media coverage [my emphasis - N]. Deaths and injury of young children from unexploded British and American cluster bombs are put at 1,000 a month. The effect of uranium weapons used by Anglo-American forces -- a weapon of mass destruction -- is such that readings taken from Iraqi tanks destroyed by the British are so high that a British Army survey team wore white, full-body radiation suits, face masks and gloves. Iraqi children play on and around these tanks. British troops, says the Ministry of Defence, 'will have access to biological monitoring'.
"Iraqis have no such access and no expert medical help; and thousands are now suffering from a related catalogue of miscarriages and hair loss, horrific eye, skin and respiratory problems ...
"Blair has, as ever, followed Bush. In announcing at the weekend his own inquiry into an 'intelligence failure', Bush hopes to cast himself as an innocent, aggrieved member of the public wanting to know why America's numerous spy agencies did not alert the nation to the fact, now confirmed by Bush's own weapons inspector, David Kay, that there were no weapons of mass destruction ... "
Full text at Information Clearing House
Nora posted item above at 8:37 AM | Permalink
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