Thursday 15 July 2004

UK Iraq report labelled a 'whitewash'

As Bantu Steven Biko once said; "The System will never convict The System." Of course it's a friggin' white-wash, what the hell did you expect? That Butler would point a long gangley finger at Phony Tony and say "J'Accuse!"??? I mean come on, these bastards are sitting pretty in the ivory towers, insulated from real life by money and power, they don't give a toss what we think, get used to it!

Anti-war activists have reacted with anger to a report that exonerated Tony Blair from any wrongdoing in the lead-up to last year's invasion of Iraq.

They labelled the report by former top civil servant Lord Richard Butler a "whitewash" and say it has left the British leader with little credibility.

Released on Wednesday, the report found major holes in pre-war intelligence but spared the British prime minister any personal responsibility.

It was the fourth investigation in a year into the government's justification for war from which Blair has escaped with little more than a slapped wrist.

The report concluded Iraq almost certainly did not possess significant stocks of weapons of mass destruction before the conflict, despite government claims.

But it said Blair was not responsible for the failures of British intelligence and did not intentionally lie to the British people.

Lindsey German, spokeswoman for the Stop the War Coalition, told Aljazeera.net the government had found itself "not guilty".

"All these reports seem to conclude that no one is responsible or to blame for the illegal and unjustified invasion of Iraq which has killed thousands of people," she said.

"But no one should be surprised. The Butler committee was set up to get the right result. This is the government investigating itself and then acquitting itself."

German said the report committee, which was appointed by the government, had too narrow a remit.

"We in the anti-war movement have been saying for two years that the UK went to war on a false pretext and this report completely vindicates us.

"But no one has ever gone to war solely on the basis of intelligence because it is known that intelligence is never 100 per cent certain. This is the issue that needs to be addressed," German said.

"The Butler committee was set up to get the right result. This is the government investigating itself and then acquitting itself"

The Stop the War Coalition spokeswoman added: "Tony Blair should resign immediately and make a full apology to the British and Iraqi people. Troops should also be pulled out of Iraq. That is the only way he can start atoning for this mess."

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