Clare Short at the Iraq Enquiry

For the benefit of my overseas reader, here in Britain there is an investigation going on into the Iraq war. I tell folks this as I don't know if this is even being reported beyond our shores.

While Tony Blair has already been called as a witness, and the media made a big fuss of this here, there was nothing new that emerged. While in my dreams he would have turned up with a full written confession, already dressed in his prison clothes, that was just a dream. The other witnesses have not said anything really surprising, with the exception of some of the senior military staff, who were rather critical of the political planning.

However today, the former overseas development minister appeared. Clare Short won my admiration when she resigned because of the non existent planning for the aftermath of the war.

To go off on a slight tangent though, it is one of the problems with politics that no matter how much an individual disagrees with a policy, sometimes it is only by staying in post can you really influence anything. Thus, I was not surprised to hear that she, Clare Short, was against the war, even though she was in the government.

It is however her assertion that the former prime minister misled the cabinet and more importantly the house of commons, that is the real news.

I will not speculate about the real motives behind the war, but as the saying goes: “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions” The war had a dubious legal basis, and hundreds of thousands of people died. Has it made our planet safer? Not that I can see. Has it improved the lives of the Iraqis? Not that I can see.

The Iraq war distracted attention from Afghanistan where at least there could be a genuine case could be made for war there. But by fighting a (illegal?) war in Iraq there is now greater danger from international terrorism than before. Had the US and the UK concentrated on Afghanistan perhaps we would have now been safer and not mired in an unwinnable war.