Views
We need an Inquiry into the Iraq disaster - for The Inverness Courier
EVERY day the news that unfolds on our television screens from Iraq seems to get worse. Iraqi civilians and British and American troops are losing their lives in ever greater numbers and the only people who seem unable to understand that a tragedy is unfolding before us are the people responsible for it.
President Bush looks more beleaguered and out of touch than ever and his cronies in the British government seem unable to accept that the right thing to do is to bring our troops home and to do it soon. The current level of British casualties is unacceptable, as it has been since we went into this illegal war. Our troops — such as those from the Royal Irish Regiment whom I met at Fort George before they departed — have fought with consummate professionalism, but they simply should not be there.
It is very hard indeed to see what is being achieved by the continuing British presence in Iraq. Our troops are severely restricted in what they can do and they are subject to unreasonable risks. In Basra, British troops are now largely confined to their two bases and it is reported that 90 per cent of attacks in the city are now directed against them.
There is now a clear recognition on all sides that the objectives of Britain's mission in Iraq cannot be achieved — so the question has to be asked why are we still there? Is it the case that our continuing presence in Iraq is now only to show solidarity with the United States? Pleasing the White House is not a legitimate war aim.
Were it the case that Mr Brown is prolonging our engagement in Iraq to spare further embarrassment to President Bush, could it be justified against the level of our casualties? Of course not. It is time to set a framework for the complete withdrawal of all our forces from Iraq. I have been calling for this since my election in 2005, and the need is even greater now.
There is a further complicating factor: Afghanistan. In that country, British forces are engaged in one of the most difficult and hard-fought battles that we have experienced in many years. A high proportion of our soldiers there are being killed or injured in the fighting. Yet we are there for the right reasons and those leading our forces believe there is a still a chance of success.
Leading military figures are increasingly loudly saying that they want out of Iraq so that the necessary resources can be deployed to Afghanistan. At the moment our soldiers there are over-stretched and there are persistent complaints about their supplies and equipment, including a shortage of helicopters. We need to give our troops the time and resources they need to win this battle, and get out of Iraq now.
We desperately need a full inquiry into the Iraq disaster — to ensure that lessons are learned from the greatest UK foreign policy disaster for 50 years. That inquiry needs to examine the circumstances in which we went to war, including the misleading evidence on weapons of mass destruction; the failure to plan for the post-war period; and the extent to which the British government was exercising an independent mind.
One of the books in my pile of summer reading has been State of Denial, Bob Woodward's fascinating and frightening account of the dysfunctional US government process that led to war. The key warmongers seemed driven more by ideology than rational planning and various departments spent more time fighting each other than making the right decisions. At every stage, Britain's support was simply taken for granted.
Mr Brown is trying to distance himself from these decisions, but we should never forget that he was Tony Blair's right hand man and controlled the government's purse strings. Like every other member of the cabinet, he spoke up strongly in support of the war and failed to ask the difficult questions that only Charles Kennedy and the Liberal Democrats were asking in Parliament. Now he tells us — quite wrongly — that an inquiry has to wait until our troops are home. That is another reason to bring them back as soon as possible.
Posted on: 28/08/2007
