Tony Blair en Irak

In verschillende Nederlandse kranten konden we vandaag een grote foto zien van de Britse premier die graffiti van een muur spoot, in het kader van zijn campagne: 'Respect - Geef Respect, krijg respect,' een campagne die zijn dramatisch gedaalde populariteit en vertrouwen in hem weer moet verhogen. Onder andere de Volkskrant vond dit kennelijk relevanter nieuws dan het feit dat Blair in eigen land in de media onder vuur ligt. Ook in het Verenigd Koninkrijk gaan nu namelijk stemmen op voor een impeachment-procedure, maar dan met premier Blair as hoofdrolspeler. Sir Michael Rose was generaal van het Britse leger en commandant van de VN vredesmacht in Bosnie. In de Guardian schrijft hij: 'Enough of his excuses: Blair must be impeached over Iraq. The only way parliament can regain the trust of disaffected voters is to admit that it was wrong to support the war... Now it is clear that parliament was misled by Mr Blair, either wittingly or unwittingly, parliament should also call on him for a full explanation as to why he went to war. It is not a sufficient excuse for Mr Blair to say that he acted in good faith and that his decisions were based on the intelligence he had been given. For it is the clear responsibility of people in his position to test intelligence. No intelligence can ever be taken at face value. Indeed it is negligent so to do. Parliament should therefore ascertain how far the prime minister did evaluate intelligence regarding WMD and how he assessed the reliability of the many sources that provided that intelligence. It should ask him what corroborating evidence there was for his specific statement about WMD - and why more use was not made of the UN inspectors on the ground in Iraq to test the validity of that statement. It should inquire just how much he discounted the mass of intelligence that came in from the Iraqi National Congress - a body that had a vested interest in removing Saddam from power. The list of possible questions is huge and would no doubt be usefully expanded during any hearings. Mr Blair is an able barrister who should relish the opportunity to put his side of the case. No one can undo the decision to go to war. But the impeachment of Mr Blair is now something I believe must happen if we are to rekindle interest in the democratic process.' Lees verder: http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5370711-103550,00.html