Clare Short at The Iraq Inquiry
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Clare Short is a rare breed of politician. She’s honest! It’s always caused problems for the labour party, this ‘honesty’ gene, even if it is found in oh so few labour politicians these days. People such as the late great Robin Cook, Clare Short and love him or loathe him, ‘Gorgeous George’ (Galloway) all suffer/suffered from this ‘problem’.
Clare Short speaking to journalists after the Chilcott Inquiry
Of course all three politicians names above voiced their opinions loudly about the nightmare we were about to create with the U.S in Iraq, as did millions of us also. It was perfectly obvious to laymen even, how this would all end up, tragically, as there at least hundreds of thousands of innocents dead as a result.
Clare Short of course famously resigned in 2003 a few months after the Iraq War broke out. As much as I have always liked Clare, i felt she shouldn’t have waited those couple of months as I feel it lost it’s true impact. I don’t want to be harsh on her as I know she tried to stay for a bit as she realised the obsessed Blair would not leave this idea of invasion alone and was like a dog with a bone. She waned to be a key player in rebuilding Iraq and to try and steer some sense into it. It was not to be.
Blair has of course had a history all his life of loving to bend and break the law. Power mad and obessed with greed and the desire to please, dazzled by the bright lights of the Whitehouse, Blair saw his chance to make a name for himself, forever. He succeeded. And stained our country forever with the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives. The loss of life and suffering is too big to comprehend. Try. You can’t.
Clare Short attended the Chilcott Inquiry/Iraq Inquiry at the beginning of February, this year, 2010. She was questioned by the panel members for 3 hours. At the end of the inquiry she received a welcome applause from the gallery for her candidness and openness about what really happened.
There was a lot of ground covered, but some of the key facts Clare Short mentioned are mentioned below in short quotes:
Mr Blair “and his mates” decided war was necessary, and “everything was done on a wing and a prayer”.
Attorney General Lord Goldsmith had been “leaned on” to change his advice before the invasion.
The Cabinet was “misled” into thinking the war with Iraq was legal.
The attorney general provisionally advised Mr Blair in January that year that it would be unlawful to invade Iraq without a further United Nations Security Council resolution.
She had been “shocked” that the attorney general’s advice was so late but was “jeered at” to be quiet by other ministers when she asked why.
“I think for the attorney general to come and say there’s unequivocal legal authority to go war was misleading.”
“I think he misled the cabinet. He certainly misled me, but people let it through.”
After the failure to secure a second UN resolution, the government had put out “untrue” claims that France had vetoed it.
Referring to late 2002 she added: “We asked for a briefing… This just didn’t come and didn’t come… it became clear there was some sort of block on communications.”
Tags: clare short
Category: Chilcot Enquiry