This Was Always a Needless, Immoral War. Yet Still They Won't Admit It (Guardian UK)

[marmar]

from the Guardian UK, via CommonDreams:

Published on Monday, February 26, 2007 by the Guardian / UK
This Was Always a Needless, Immoral War. Yet Still They Won't Admit It
The invasion of Iraq was foolish, illegal and finally catastrophic. The only people who seem not to know this are our rulers
by Geoffrey Wheatcroft

Now that everyone apart from Dick Cheney recognises that the Iraq war has been an appalling failure, and now that all the original justifications for the war have long since collapsed, where do those who originally supported it turn? Some just pretend it never happened, or that they really never approved of it.
There is a deafening patter of paws as sundry politicians and pundits rush to the side of this sinking ship, and there have been many displays of selective amnesia worthy of Tony Blair himself. Why, not far from this very page angry voices can be heard condemning as criminal folly a war they once praised enthusiastically. A cynic might even speculate that if the operation had turned into anything that could plausibly be represented as a success, some of these latter-day peaceniks would now be trumpeting victory and denouncing those who always opposed the invasion as fainthearts or traitors.

But such about-turns are not so easy for the MPs who voted for the war four years ago, and especially for members of the government. As Peter Hain says, with apparent honesty: "No Labour minister, as I was at the time, can shirk responsibility for it." So what to do, given the scale of disaster and the collapse of those original justifications?

The answer is a rewriting of history just as dishonest in its way as the original dossiers, or Blair's claim that Saddam was a "serious and current" threat to this country. Look closely at the answers given last week to the Guardian by the cabinet ministers who now aspire to the deputy Labour leadership, or perhaps something higher.

These really boil down to two points. One is that "the intelligence was plain wrong" (Hain) or that "although we now know the intelligence was wrong I think the case for war was made in good faith" (Hilary Benn). The other is that the war has at least had one beneficial outcome: "Removing Saddam Hussein from power was essential for the peace of the region, for the protection of the Iraqi people, and for our own security" (Hazel Blears), or "I don't regret that Saddam is no longer in power" (Benn). ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0226-23.htm