A R C H I V E S
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| The truth shall become apparent |
|---|
| jannah |
| 09/16/03 at 02:01:58 |
| Straw 'begged Blair' not to join Iraq war BRIAN BRADY TONY Blair found himself embroiled in a fresh Iraq crisis last night after it was claimed Foreign Secretary Jack Straw made a desperate last-minute plea for him to call off the war. Just days before the fighting started, Straw begged the Prime Minister not to send British troops into action, according to a new book on the affair. The hugely damaging allegations emerged last night just hours after hundreds of Iraqis fired shots in the air and chanted "America is the enemy of God" following the burial of 10 Iraqi policemen killed accidentally by US troops. More than 36 hours after the catastrophic firefight, the American military apologised for what it called an "unfortunate incident" in the rebellious town of Falluja, west of Baghdad. Troops had mistaken police and security guards chasing highway bandits for anti-American rebels. There were further scenes of grief and gunfire in the same town as residents buried a three-year-old girl who was shot in the head by American soldiers during a separate incident late on Friday. "We wish to express our deepest regrets to the families who have lost loved ones," military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel George Krivo said in Baghdad. With Falluja seething, police fired warning shots into the air to disperse demonstrators as the first coffin was carried to a cemetery. There were chaotic scenes at the town’s main mosque, where several hundred people carrying an Iraqi flag gathered to pray over the coffins and protest against the US military. "There is only one God. America is the enemy of God," the crowd chanted. Witnesses in Falluja said Iraqi guerrillas fired on a US base just outside the town in the early hours yesterday but American soldiers on the scene said there were no casualties. Around the town, graffiti read: "We have the right to kill the American occupiers" and "US will pay in blood for oil". As the chaos in Iraq continued, foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council signalled that they were seriously divided over how fast the US should hand over power to local politicians in the occupied country. There appeared to be little chance of a breakthrough emerging from a UN-called meeting in Geneva, though there were signs that relations had become more amicable by late yesterday. Meanwhile, in Britain, Tony Blair was last night facing a deepening crisis following the disclosure of the contents of the letter sent to him by the Foreign Secretary. Straw is said to have written a confidential ‘personal minute’ to Blair saying the UK should offer the Americans "political and moral support" in their campaign against Saddam Hussein, but not military backing. Straw is said to have argued that the United Nations’ refusal to back the invasion would make it damaging for Britain to take part. The Foreign Secretary reportedly urged Blair to tell President George Bush that British troops would help clear up the mess and keep the peace once the war was over, but would play no part in Saddam’s overthrow. ‘Prime Minister rejected Straw’s plea and told him to keep it quiet’ But the shocked Prime Minister rejected Straw’s plea point-blank, telling him there was no going back and making him promise to keep quiet, according to the book by political journalist John Kampfner, entitled Blair’s War. Kampfner, political editor of the New Statesman, wrote: "He (Blair) asked him to clarify whether or not he would support the war, now that it was definitely going to happen. "Straw said he would. They agreed to put the issue behind them. Having expressed his reservations and seen them rejected, Straw fell firmly into line, arguing the case for war with as much vigour as anyone else." And the book claims: "For all his public assertions that the intelligence was rock-solid, Blair had his doubts throughout." Kampfner’s book details a series of further allegations, including that: •Blair had secretly agreed to go to war as early as April 2002, when he had a summit with George Bush at the President’s ranch in Crawford, Texas. •Intelligence reports told the Prime Minister the threat of Saddam producing and using weapons of mass destruction was actually diminishing in the run-up to the conflict. •The 45-minute claim about Saddam’s missiles "was a red herring designed to scare", and Blair knew it. •Downing Street was kept in the dark when Bush finally ordered US forces into action. The latest revelation about the decisions taken in the run-up to war comes as Blair struggles to maintain his authority amid the inquiry into the death of weapons scientist David Kelly. A parliamentary report into the build-up to war last week revealed Blair had overruled the advice of his own intelligence experts, who warned the collapse of Saddam’s regime could increase the threat of global terrorism. Last night neither the Foreign Office nor No 10 would make any comment on the sensational claims, both saying only: "We have nothing to say about that." If true, the allegations in Kampfner’s book would suggest that doubts about the wisdom of committing troops to action in Iraq reached to the very innermost circles around Blair. Straw is one of Blair’s most loyal Cabinet allies and was one of the staunchest supporters of the war in public, regularly appearing before the cameras to argue that it was right. The Hutton Inquiry into Kelly’s death has already hastened the departure of Blair’s spin-doctor Alastair Campbell, and his Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon is expected to follow him as soon as the final report is delivered. The revelations come as new Cabinet Office documents cast further doubt on Blair’s claims about the extent of Saddam’s arsenal. Newly-released intelligence reports show that his categorical assertion that Iraq continued to produce chemical and biological weapons up until the outbreak of war was only based on a single source and described as "too strong" by senior intelligence figures. |
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board |