Twardlow Loc: Arkansas

(Emphasis added by Poster)

WorldPost

Former UK PM John Prescott Says Britain’s Iraq Invasion Was Illegal

A seven-year report found many faults with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s handling of the Iraq war in 2003.

07/09/2016 09:37 pm E

Britain broke international law when it invaded Iraq in 2003, its deputy prime minister at the time, John Prescott, said on Sunday in the wake of a critical report on the decision.

A seven-year inquiry concluded on Wednesday that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s justification, planning and handling of the Iraq War involved a catalog of failures, but did not rule whether the war was legal.

Eight months before the 2003 invasion, Blair told U.S. President George W. Bush “I will be with you, wh**ever”, eventually sending 45,000 British troops into battle when peace options had not been exhausted, the long-awaited British public inquiry said.

Prescott, writing in the Sunday Mirror newspaper, said he had now changed his view on the legality of the war and criticized Blair for stopping his ministers from fully discussing in advance whether the war would be legal.

“In 2004, the U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that as regime change was the prime aim of the Iraq War, it was illegal. With great sadness and anger, I now believe him to be right,” Prescott wrote.

“I will live with the decision of going to war and its catastrophic consequences for the rest of my life,” he added.

Many Britons want Blair to face criminal action over his decision to take military action that led to the deaths of 179 British soldiers and more than 150,000 Iraqi civilians over the following six years.

“The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, came to the Cabinet, verbally announced it was legal, but provided no documentation,” Prescott said. “The timing of the decision was clearly designed to endorse an almost immediate action for us to go to war.”

Prescott added that he backed the decision by Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn - a veteran anti-war campaigner and critic of Blair - to apologize for the war on behalf of the party.

(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Sandra Maler)

This quoted from Huffingtonpost

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/john-prescott-britain-iraq_us_5781a353e4b01edea78e39be?section=

Jakebrake Loc: Broomfield, Colorado

Ancient history. When you going to let it go tward?

Twardlow Loc: Arkansas

Ancient history???

Do you read the news?

Are not GIs dying today?

Is the war still costing money today?

You grow too comfortable, Jake.

How long would the k*****g have to go on before you say 'enough?'

Jakebrake Loc: Broomfield, Colorado

And who do we have to thank right now for this never ending quagmire? Why obama of course! Bush has been gone for almost 8 years. Give it up tward..

green Loc: 22.1749611,-159.646704,20

Ancient history.


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36720720

Twardlow Loc: Arkansas

Who started it , Jake?

Who put the US in an untenable position, increased the national debt exponentially, and proved our incompetence to the world?

This will continue until you and I decide it should stop.

FlyingTiger Loc: Tortola, BVI

Does not matter who started the war Obama ran for President partly on the platform of ending all wars and getting U.S. troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. He has not done that.

You ask who increased the national debt? I would have thought you knew that, but the answer is Obama. He has incurred just about as much national debt as all the presidents before him combined.

You will have no part of the decision to end it. None at all.

cwp3420

He's your president, turdball. Ask him to stop it. I'm sure he will listen to you. I'll be watching the national news with baited breath to hear his announcement.

green Loc: 22.1749611,-159.646704,20

unless you're not an American, he's your president too. Not to mention we're both stuck with OUR congress... and OUR shorthanded Supreme Court.

Twardlow Loc: Arkansas

Bush's wars have added to the Nation Debt for thirteens years now.

And you blame it on Obama, just to protect "W."

FlyingTiger Loc: Tortola, BVI

I am not protecting anyone. Show me where I have done that. I am just pointing out facts which you conveniently gloss over.

Obama campaigned on a promise to end the wars he has not done that.

It is Obama that has almost doubled the national debt to an unsustainable level. That cannot even be argued.

You made the statement "to show our incompetence to the world". It appears you have a pretty healthy dislike for your country, assuming it is your country. Do you think it was wrong to go to Afghanistan to root out the Taliban and Al Queda? What should the United States have done instead? Leave them to their own devices to plan and execute another 9/11 style attack?

You also seem to forget that it was your Democrat friends, including Mrs. Clinton that v**ed for and supported both wars. Are they not accountable as well? Or is it just President Bush? Your h**e and antiwar stance is selective?

What would you have done different?

You folks that have supported President Obama need to face up to the fact that he has been a miserable leader and a seriously flawed president. You are in a serious and dangerous state of denial.

WNYShooter Loc: WNY

If you really want to drill down to the ones responsible for the mess we are involved with in the Middle East, you need to go all the way back to Carter and his "Operation Cyclone".

Twardlow Loc: Arkansas

Obama has worked very hard to get us out of these two wars; he is as disappointed as you or me that idea failed.

Your ideas on the debt are incorrect. Remember, every year adds more war costs to the debt, and Obama did not cause those debts.

Can you name any event in Afghanistan or Iraq that you can claim was a military success?

We watched Russia struggle in Afghanistan for ten years, then we thought we could extend the supply lines 5,000 miles and do better. Didn't happen, did it?

Going into Afghanistan was Stupid. We could only lose, as we have done. Can you possibly disagree?

Can you possibly think Afghanistan attacked us on 9/11?

The nation was blackmailed into that war and that v**e. Do you remember "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud?"

The big lie was that Iraq had a nuclear program and they would give or sell atomic weapons to Al Quaeda.

The U N Inspectors reported before the war that there was no nuclear program in Iraq. They were right.

Obama is not a seriously flawed President, much as you would like to believe that. His reputation in history will be positive and secure.

The Middle East has been in almost constant warfare for 5,000 years, and, in all that time, only one outsider has been successful there--Alexander the Great. Believe me, George Bush is no Alexander the Great.

Going into the Middle East is the biggest diplomatic disaster in American History; we will win nothing there, and we will be there losing for decades.

gmcase Loc: Galt's Gulch

Whether the war was illegal or not it was a stupid move. I was against going into Afghanistan as we did because those people will not embrace western style democracy. If we went in just to k**l the terrorists and leave I would have been supportive. No nation building ever.

Invading Irag was stupid by any measure and I was against it vehemently before the invasion and long before it became fashionable to be against it. Saddam was a tyrant but he lept the terrorists at bay by brute force and death which is the ONLY thing they understand and respect. Same with Gaddafi. Supporting the radical Muslims in Libya was also stupid and this administration and Hillary owns that situation lock, stock and barrel.

If it was something under my control I would operate as a non-interventionist. If someone hits us I would wipe them off the face of the earth and provide not one red cent for rebuilding. I would keep our nose out of other's business but if they ever harmed us they would be history regardless of collateral damage. I would leave others alone as long as they left us alone but show no mercy when they violated the policy.

Twardlow Loc: Arkansas

If only our politicians could learn so much....