The Prime Minister has accepted that an inquiry into the Iraq War is needed but not yet. This week sees the 5th Anniversary of The Iraq War Part 2, so how long will it be before there is an inquiry?Gordon Brown argues that whilst British Forces are in Iraq, an inquiry should not be held; our Forces can expect to be kept there for some time yet then.
The worst possible aspect about the War was not the invasion nor the initial military victory or its dubious excuses, but the obvious lack of thought by Bush and Blair about what was to happen next. Mr Blair's former 'Chief of Staff' Jonathon Powell admitted yesterday that the Government had failed to plan properly for the aftermath of the war. What a criminal admission for one at the heart of the British Government to make.
So the mess that Iraq soon descended into and the lives of thousands of Iraqis, British and US soldiers were lost because our political leaders had not thought about the aftermath of a predictable military victory? This is incompetent Government at its worst.
The British Government had our own recent history to draw on in respect of Iraq; the insurrection against British Forces in Iraq in the 1920s and the occupations of Nazi Germany and Indo-China at the end of World War 2. Japanese Forces were employed to keep the peace in Indo-China alongside British Forces and in Germany, the Wehrmacht, Police and civil administration was re-established quickly whilst the 'de-nazification' programme was instituted.
The disintegration of the Iraqi Army and the removal of the Baath Party (the civil authority) in 2003 created an immediate vacuum. The simple answer, successfully employed in the past, should have been to restore as much of the previous military and civil structure immediately and get the Iraqi Army back in uniform and as many Baath Party officials back at their posts as possible. The 'political re-education' process could have then followed.
Failure in Iraq, after a successful initial military campaign, can be placed at the door of our own Government and the Bush Administration. 5 years of bloodshed and misery endured by the Iraq people was unnecessry and avoidable.
That is why Brown does not want an inquiry.
What do you think?
2 comments:
We have a way with our leaders in Thanet that appears to extend back in time, I noticed from our recent bronze age find, that having honoured one leader with a large burial mound when a better one died we promptly dug up the previous one and buried the other one instead. I do hope they take some note of this at both a national and local level. I voted for what appeared to be a sane and moderate government whose leader took his country to war, having told lies which I believed, it is very annoying indeed.
Michael
Have you googled "Red Mercury Thor Chemicals" ?
Then maybe The United Nations Minnesota Protocol and question how Tony Blair could give terms of reference to the Dr Kelly inquiry ?
Then maybe local questions about warehousing facilities and tank engines allegedly supplied to the Iran/Iraq war export end user certed as generator spares ???
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