It’s the war that won’t stop being mentioned: Iraq.
Last week Carne Ross told the Chilcot Inquiry that the Iraq war was based on lies, and now Nick Clegg has told Jack Straw and the rest of The House that the war was “illegal”. Jo Coburn on The Daily Politics said: “Downing Street has sought to explain that the Deputy Prime Minister was speaking in a personal capacity and that his comments do not constitute official government policy. Leading lawyers, though, have suggested Mr Clegg’s statement might open the way to charges against Britain in international courts.” [1] If only… Coburn said that Clegg made a “mistake” by expressing his ‘personal view’, as did Carole Walker on BBC News, following a report by John Simpson on the effects of uranium-coated missiles rained on Fallujah in November 2004. A study has shown that dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukaemia exceed those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Iraqi doctors in Fallujah have complained since 2005 of being overwhelmed by the number of babies with serious birth defects, ranging from a girl born with two heads to paralysis of the lower limbs. Researchers have found a 38-fold increase in leukaemia, a ten-fold increase in female breast cancer and significant increases in lymphoma and brain tumours in adults. [2]
So, the Iraq war is based on lies, illegal, and has resulted in death and sickness beyond your worst nightmares. Alastair Campbell and Tony Blair want us to “move on”. Shall we?