The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
Views expressed in this archived message are those of the author, not of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
[Main archive index/search] [List information] [Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq Homepage]
Publisher: Gulf Times (Doha, Qatar)
By:
Posted: 2002-07-29
London - A war against Iraq could cost Tony Blair his job, former
Labour MP Tony Benn has warned.
The former MP for Chesterfield said Blair could suffer the same
fate as Tory prime minister Sir
Anthony Eden, who was forced to resign in disgrace after launching
an attack against Egypt during
the Suez crisis.
World statesmen like Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ted Heath
and Jimmy Carter need to
speak out to “alert humanity to the danger that faces us”, Benn
said.
But Deputy Commons Leader Ben Bradshaw warned that ignoring the
“threat” of the Iraqi president
could be difficult to defend.
“We simply cannot think that by hoping a threat will go away it
will. It won’t and Saddam poses a very
real one,” he told Sky’s Sunday with Adam Boulton programme.
He was speaking as Benn, in an unusual plea for an arch
left-winger, called on Conservatives and
Liberal Democrats to “act quickly” to stop military action against
Iraq.
Writing in the predominantly right-wing Mail on Sunday, the former
Chesterfield MP argued that while
Blair has stated that no decision has been taken about a war, US
President George Bush expects UK
support.
Last week, Blair told a “presidential” style press conference that
war against Iraq was not imminent.
But Benn said that now Parliament has adjourned for its long summer
recess, MPs will not have a
chance to question the government about a potential conflict. More
than 20,000 British troops may
support an invasion involving a 200,000- strong US contingent, it
is reported.
But Benn said such an invasion would contravene the United Nations
Charter. “If Britain joins in, we
will be guilty of conducting an act of aggression and committing
war crimes against those innocent
civilians who are bound to be killed.
“For there are many women living in Baghdad who will be widows
within a few months and children
who will be orphans and homeless as a result of actions by British
airmen or soldiers acting in our
name.
“The responsibility for this will lie with the prime minister
personally, as he will have taken the
decision without the authority of a vote in the House of Commons.”
Benn said he did not know whether Blair “appreciates the enormity”
of acting in defiance of the UN,
“to kill people at the behest of President Bush”.
“But if, in the event, he does take that view, he could well
forfeit his claim to the support of all those
across the whole spectrum of British opinion who see war as a moral
issue. He will destroy his own
moral authority and relieve us of any obligations we may have to
respect him.”
Benn said Labour MPs were the only people who could save Blair from
making “a disastrous
mistake”. But he stressed: “I know that many Conservatives and
Liberal Democrats are opposed to
the war, but they must act quickly, because if and when it begins,
the government will try to shield
behind the men and women they have sent into battle, telling us we
must support our own troops.”
A war against Iraq would inflame the Middle East. “If people of the
stature of Nelson Mandela,
Mikhail Gorbachev, Ted Heath, Jimmy Carter, Mary Robinson, Ahmed
Ben Bella, Boutros
Boutros-Ghali and others issued a strong statement reaffirming
their commitment to the UN Charter,
this tragedy might be averted.”
Benn recalled in 1956 the demise of Sir Anthony Eden following the
Suez crisis, when he proposed
sending troops into Egypt. “He was forced to resign in disgrace,”
said Benn.
He advised Blair: “The prime minister should be warning President
Bush, in the plainest possible
terms, that he should abandon his war plans or America will be
totally isolated.
“A war with Iraq, which would certainly also alienate Russia and
China and many of our European
partners, could cost Tony Blair his job, undermine public support
for the government as a whole,
inflict untold suffering on millions – and must be stopped.”
But Bradshaw told the Sky programme he would not want to return to
the programme in five years
time “after something terrible had happened and defend to you that
we had ignored that threat”.
He admitted that there was an argument for a new UN resolution
before military . But he ruled out a
vote by MPs ahead of any conflict, stressing that it was “not
realistic”.
“No prime minister in British history has ever allowed their hands
to be tied like that and none
would,” he said.
© 2002 [Gulf Times (Doha, Qatar)].
- - - -
Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed
--
__________________________________________________________
Sign-up for your own FREE Personalized E-mail at Mail.com
http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup
Get 4 DVDs for $.49 cents! plus shipping & processing. Click to join.
http://adfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/990-1736-3566-59
_______________________________________________
Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss
To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk
All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk