Hi all,
the president of the House of Commons and member of the British government Robin Cook yesterday resigned to show his opposition to Britain going to war without UN backing.
scenes in the House of Commons were really unprecedented with Labour MPs giving him a standing ovation. in the British parliament one is allowed to shout, heckle and wave pieces of paper, but no clapping! and even less a standing ovation.
Cook's speech was very intelligent and a devastating demolition of the whole of Bush and Blair "argument" for war. (
a video of his speech )
now, Cook has supported and organised other imperialist wars in the past (Serbia, Afganistan, Sierra Leone), and therefore we should have no illusions in his new found principles. however the important thing is that this helps the anti-war case amongst the general public and encourages even more Labour MPs to rebell today when a vote will be taken in parliament.
here are some little gems from his speech:
"Iraq probably has no weapons of mass destruction in the commonly understood sense of that term - namely, a credible device capable of being delivered against strategic city targets. It probably does still have biological toxins and battlefield chemical munitions. But it has had them since the 1980s when the US sold Saddam the anthrax agents and the then British government built his chemical and munitions factories.
Why is it now so urgent that we should take military action to disarm a military capacity that has been there for 20 years and which we helped to create? And why is it necessary to resort to war this week while Saddam's ambition to complete his weapons programme is frustrated by the presence of UN inspectors?
I have heard it said that Iraq has had not months but 12 years in which to disarm, and our patience is exhausted. Yet it is over 30 years since resolution 242 called on Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories.
We do not express the same impatience with the persis tent refusal of Israel to comply."
I mean these things are already known to all those who oppose the war, but it is not the same if they are said by a member of the UK government who has inside knowledge!
we are living in exciting times (as I write this a junior health minister has also resigned).
redjordi
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