The Iraq war was of "questionable legitimacy" even though it is unlikely to be proved illegal, a former senior diplomat has said.
Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the UK's ambassador to the UN in 2003, said the invasion did not have the backing of most UN members or the UK public.
But he said he believed the US and UK had "established" its legality and that it had never been challenged in court.
The inquiry is looking into the background to the 2003 invasion.
Inquiry members, headed by Sir John Chilcot, are initially concentrating on UK-US relations in the run-up to war and the UK's assessment of Iraq's military threat.
On its fourth day of public hearings, the inquiry examined failed efforts to resolve the Iraq crisis through the United Nations.
The Iraq War was, by anyone's standards, both illegal and illegitimate. From what I've heard, Bush was determined to invade Iraq whatever the weather, he had his mind completely set on it- despite any evidence whatsoever that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction- and that Blair was willing to comply to any demands Washington threw at him.
The Bush-Blair tandem colluded to circumvent the UN. That much is now common currency even among those who are most indifferent to the war and its horrendous ramifications. Both nations knew what they were going after, and it was never WMDs. It was always the vast energy resources that Iraq possesses which were to be secured by the occupation forces.
The star witness in this enquiry will no doubt be Blair himself; and he will reiterate his claim of supposedly putting the British national security interest at the heart of his decision to invade and subsequently overthrow Saddam Hussein and his government; a regime that was once looked upon with tremendous favour by the UK and then, all of a sudden morhped into this vile and wicked nation when it was expedient to do so.
If there is a considerable body of evidence that deems this war to be illegal in the aftermath of this inquiry, then the right thing to do would veritably be to indict Blair and the senior hawks in his cabinet of war crimes. Remember that there were never any WMDs, so no one can refute the fact that the entire rationale for the invasion and occupation, was based on massive deception, knowingly concealed from the public and premised on flawed intelligence.
Mass war crimes were commited both in Afganistan and Iraq. Rape, Mass murder, and torture which all were authorized by Bush, Blair and cheney. Liz Cheney herself admits rape was to be used to scare the people. Blackwaters employee said that they would "prostitute young Iraqis girls for a dollar" Bush knew about it so did Eric Prince the owner of the group. Another Blackwaters employee claimed the 4 civilians killed in Faluja were infact killed by blackwaters to mass murder civilians there. Which American army did by killing anyone on side. There are stories after stories for mass murder, rape , and torture.
As much as i've always wanted this inquiry into the Iraq war, i have no doubt that the only reason it was commissioned by Gordon Brown is that he knows he is heading for a massive electoral defeat next year and he's running out of options to avert a humiliating defeat by the Tories.
He knows there is widespread discontent with the Iraq war, but i think it's a bit too late possibly to save his hide and it now seems invariable that he and New Labour will be sent packing. It is a bit bitter because the Tories are just as belligerent and their positions on Iraq are decidedly more hawkish and defiant, infact, somewhat reminiscent of the Bush era. And what makes it worse is that with Obama's decision to pour even more troops into Afghanistan to try and pacify the country, Cameron will almost certainly follow suit and enact similar measures. He knows how to get away with it, he'll get Richard Danatt, the former Chief of Staff to endorse any of his military strategies no matter how unsound.
The Iraq War was, by anyone's standards, both illegal and illegitimate. From what I've heard, Bush was determined to invade Iraq whatever the weather, he had his mind completely set on it- despite any evidence whatsoever that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction- and that Blair was willing to comply to any demands Washington threw at him.
do a wee bit of research on PNAC, the Project for a New American Century,
read who's in it and the Zbig book, The Grand Chessboard.
Both invasions were planned before Bush was ever elected. yet, somehow, strikingly, members of this neo-conservative Mafia ended up in the Bush administration. ergo: Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, John "recess appointment" Bolton, Paul Wolfowitz, Don Rumsfeld, Peter Rodman, Elliott Abrams. well, except for Jeb...
Had the non-believer known of all the Mercy which is in the Hands of Allah, he would not lose hope of entering Paradise, and had the believer known of all the punishment which is present with Allah, he would not consider himself safe from the Hell-Fire http://www.muftimenk.co.za/Downloads.html
Hey there! Looks like you're enjoying the discussion, but you're not signed up for an account.
When you create an account, we remember exactly what you've read, so you always come right back where you left off. You also get notifications, here and via email, whenever new posts are made. And you can like posts and share your thoughts. Sign Up
Hide
Looks like you're enjoying the discussion, but you're not signed up for an account.
Bookmarks