(Britain's New Labour Leader) Ed Miliband: Blair 'Wrong' on Iraq War

[Turborama]

Source: The Independent (UK)

New Labour leader Ed Miliband today conceded the conflict in Iraq had divided the country and said Tony Blair's government was "wrong" to go to war.

In a frank admission to the party's annual conference in Manchester, Mr Miliband said the Labour government had "undermined" the United Nations.

"Iraq was an issue that divided our party and our country. Many sincerely believed that the world faced a real threat. I criticise nobody faced with making the toughest of decisions and I honour our troops who fought and died there. But I do believe that we were wrong. Wrong to take Britain to war and we need to be honest about that.

Wrong because that war was not a last resort, because we did not build sufficient alliances and because we undermined the United Nations."

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ed-miliband-blair-wrong-on-iraq-war-2092075.html

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The Guardian has posted the full transcript of his speech: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/sep/28/ed-miliband-labour-conference-speech

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[kenny blankenship]

2. "Many sincerely believed that the world faced a real threat"

When you embrace these lies, you set yourself, your party and country on a path to committing more such wrong actions. If anyone sincerely believed the world faced a real threat it's only because they were being systematically lied to by leaders, like Miliband, who knew better but who, insensible to the difference between right and wrong, were dead set on unleashing mass murder for resource acquisition, domestic political advantage, and pushing out the boundaries of globalism/American empire. The important thing is not that many sincerely believed something, but that they only had that belief because insincere people worked very hard to plant that belief in them. They worked so hard at it, and so clumsily, that anyone with normal intelligence or better should have seen that it was a hoax.

"...war was not a last resort, because we did not build sufficient alliances and because we undermined the United Nations."

Again, you embraced the lie. The wrongness of the war doesn't proceed from the manner it was prosecuted. If George and Tony had brought in more European countries for the rape and pillage of Iraq and had not sent the UN inspectors on wild goose chases and had not wiretapped their offices IT STILL WOULD HAVE BEEN WRONG, "last resort" or no. The skimpiness of the alliance which invaded Iraq, and the trashing of the United Nations (which may never recover) are only VISIBLE SYMPTOMS of the wrongness. The wrongness of the war proceeded instead from the criminal motivations -the resource grabbing, the political expedience, the crusading for global capitalism- that lurked in Mr. Bushler and Mr. bLiar's diseased brains. The rest of the world was horrified at how it all turned out, but not surprised; they were horrified already at the nature of the initial proposal. The fact that the "alliance" looks like two big thugs leading a pack of sycophantic riffraff, authorized by only their own imagined right to other people's oil, is a symptom of the motivation. It's a result of the wrongness and does not constitute the wrongness in itself.

When you embrace these lies, and say that the wrongness of the war was all in how it was conducted, rather than its motives, and when you whitewash your country's guilty conscience by saying Well many people (ie, the rulers, as well as the governed) sincerely believed that the whole world was facing a real threat, what you're saying is this: there's a high likelihood that we'd do it again. I might well do what my predecessor's government did, because I decline to judge his motivations. I don't repudiate the intent, I have only a few wan criticisms to make concerning how he acted on it. It's altogether reminiscent of Democratic candidates' mealy-mouthed criticisms of how Bushler conducted his blitzes, not why he launched them in the first place. If this guy gets in, don't expect Iraq-style adventures to end.

[cosmicone]

3. +1000

Although half an admission is better than none at all.

[Turborama]

7. Although I agree with the main thrust of your argument, there is something that needs clarifying.

If anyone sincerely believed the world faced a real threat it's only because they were being systematically lied to by leaders, like Miliband, who knew better but who, insensible to the difference between right and wrong, were dead set on unleashing mass murder for resource acquisition, domestic political advantage, and pushing out the boundaries of globalism/American empire.

He wasn't a "leader" at the time, he was teaching economics at Harvard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Miliband#Political_biography

BTW The only party that voted against the illegal invasion of Iraq are now hand in glove with the Conservatives, who voted for it.

From http://www.libdems.org.uk/news_detail.aspx?title=Speech:_Nick_Clegg_delivers_his_speech_to_Autumn_Conference&pPK=8751593d-e92b-47fa-b6d3-61cd48e7d55d">Clegg's conference speech last year: "When our troops were massing on the borders of Iraq. The Conservatives cheered from the sidelines, and only Liberal Democrats said no."

[sabra]

4. Iraq war was wrong, says (UK) Labour leader Ed Miliband

Source: BBC

Labour's new leader Ed Miliband has said that going to war in Iraq was "wrong".

In his first party conference speech since becoming leader three days ago, he said he did not criticise anyone for making "the toughest of decisions" about Iraq.

But he said: "We were wrong, wrong to take Britain to war, and we need to be honest about that".

He said the decision to send British troops had undermined the UN.

...

"(We were) wrong because that war was not a last resort, because we did not build sufficient alliances and because we undermined the United Nations.

"America has drawn a line under Iraq and so must we.

"Our alliance with America is incredibly important to us, but we must always remember that our values must shape the alliances that we form and any military action that we take."

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11426413

[Solly Mack]

5. K&R

[GreenTea]

6. Duh! It was bassed on 100% Bush lies to con the American public - who made out like

the thieves that they are..... Bush made out using fear to control the populace and put through his corporate agenda exclusively for the rich & the corporations made billions off our tax dollars and are STILL making billions off the wars, weapons makers the oil corporations were able to get back in to Iraq to control the oil fields, the military all made their billions and none of it was paid for, as Bush raised the deficit of our country by almost six trillion dollars the most by any president in history to date by the time he left office on Jan. 20th 2009 - Again all based on lies, and the public being fed by the republican owned corporate complicit media couldn't eat up all the bullshit fast enough.....The republicans count on us all being gullible, uninformed, uneducated and that we just don't give a shit and that's why were in this fucking hole were in....moronic minded cripples who allow apathy, not voting as their way of life.

[T_i_B]

8. A step in the right direction

Although there's plenty of people in the Labour party who believe that the Iraq war was a good idea, despite all evidence to the contrary.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Including, it would seem, Miliband major

who looks like he's going to give up front-bench politics, and the moment the decision was made seems to have been this point in Ed's speech, judging by the reaction shots of David in the audience, and his subsequent quick return to London from Manchester.

[T_i_B]

10. David Miliband is being a mardy arse isn't he?

It looks like he expected the leadership to just fall into his hands and got a nasty shock when he lost.

As to the Labour chickenhawks. I just think they all need to get a reality check, although it's far more likely that the ultra Blairites will carry on stabbing Ed Miliband in the back just as they did with Gordon Brown.

[JohnyCanuck]

11. Iraq war undermined the UN and divided the country,

but made Tony Blair very, very rich.

TONY BLAIR is making between £500,000 and £1m a month from public speaking engagements, matching the earning power of President Bill Clinton.

Sources close to Blair, who left Downing Street last June, say he is delivering up to five speeches a month, with a typical fee of between £100,000 and £200,000.

Blair, who is also working unpaid as a Middle East peace envoy, is to embark on his most lucrative speaking tour in January, when he is likely to make as much as £500,000 in America and Canada for three speeches in four days.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/the_blair_years/article3056707.ece