Breaking News: Eight Years On, Some People Are Still Against The Iraq War

Eight years on and for some people it was as if the Iraq war were yesterday, only they cannot remember the detail, so they report it again through their anti-war prism.













Chris Ames and Richard Norton-Taylor were there, I know, but the only thing that they remember is that they were against it. In The Guardian, they report:

Britain and the US were planning to take action against Saddam Hussein without a second UN resolution six months before the invasion of Iraq, a newly released letter from the-then prime minister Tony Blair’s office shows.

(A sub-editor who might not have been around at the time puts the date of the invasion as May 2003 in the sub-headline, but that is not important.)

One of the most important points about UN resolution 1441 for the Americans was that it did not require a further resolution before military action. That is what the words “final opportunity” mean. The “second” resolution was sought, at Tony Blair’s behest, for political reasons to show unity and to help to persuade British opinion. That was probably a mistake, and the French certainly thought so, believing that 1441 was sufficient authority for the use of military force (until Jacques Chirac changed his mind).

As for Elizabeth Manningham-Buller (right, at the Mile End Group of Queen Mary, University of London, last year) and her same old, she manages to contradict herself, saying:

Intelligence isn’t complete without the full picture and the full picture is all about doubt.

This is three sentences after her categorical statement:

Iraq did not present a threat to the UK.

Well, it is a point of view, if you were opposed to the war all along – she was deputy director of MI5 until she took the top job in October 2002, after the publication of the dossier on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction in September 2002. It was never suggested that Iraq posed a direct military threat to the UK, but that Saddam Hussein’s WMD capability might end up in terrorist hands.

MI5, for those who do not know, is the Security Service, responsible for domestic security. The intelligence agency responsible for foreign threats to British security is known as MI6.

Thus it was legitimate for MI5 to make the point that the invasion of Iraq might increase the threat from home-grown terrorists. This was well known at the time, so it is not news eight years later. Especially when it is reported without the rest of the story: namely that this threat had to be balanced against the threat from Saddam.

Chancellor Tells World Leaders To 'Show Courage'

George Osborne today called on global leaders to show "courage" and work together to fend off another financial crisis and keep the recovery on track.


















The Chancellor warned the "future prosperity of millions" was at stake without decisive action to tackle problems in the world economy.

He joined finance ministers from Singapore, Canada, South Africa and Australia in demanding reforms in a range of areas to go along with tough deficit-cutting measures as the head of the World Bank warned global stock markets were entering a "new danger zone".

Robert Zoellick said the response by leaders in America and Europe to economic challenges in recent weeks had led many in the markets to "lose confidence in economic leadership of some of the key countries".

That was echoed by Mr Osborne and the other finance ministers, who wrote today: "We all knew the recovery from the global financial crisis would be prolonged. However, the more serious malaise today is the lack of confidence in efforts by governments to address the structural problems that underpin weak growth, high unemployment and unsustainable fiscal balance sheets."

Calling for a "new global response", they outlined reforms of regulation, banks, closer eurozone integration and a push for trade to go alongside fiscal discipline.

In an attempt to set the agenda before major meetings in the autumn, they wrote in the Financial Times: "The biggest barriers are political, not economic, so what is needed is political leadership and courage." They added: "We have more than our credibility at stake. We have the future prosperity of millions of fellow citizens to safeguard."

The intervention follows a turbulent week on the stock markets after concerns about debt in the eurozone and the downgrading of the US economy.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel are meeting tomorrow to try to thrash out a plan to tackle the crisis on the Continent.

It comes amid further concerns about the British economy and a Coalition row over scrapping the 50p top rate of income tax. A Chartered Institute of Personnel Development and KPMG survey of 1,000 employers found unemployment is set to rise this year.

Meanwhile senior Liberal Democrats are pushing the Government to consider a tax on the richest homeowners as a trade-off for scrapping the 50p rate of income tax.

Mr Osborne gave his strongest hint yet that the top rate will be abolished, saying it was "very uncompetitive". But scrapping it would lead to demands from the Lib-Dems for the richest to be taxed in another way - possibly through a levy on homes.