October 10, 2004
Blair orders honours for Iraq war aides
Robert Winnett and David Leppard
TONY BLAIR faces a new row after ordering officials to draw up a “special Iraq honours list” to reward civil servants who supported him over the war. Officials who helped to compile the flawed weapons dossier could be in line for awards.
A leaked Whitehall memo reveals that Blair wants some 50 non-military officials to be given knighthoods, OBEs, MBEs and other awards to acknowledge their efforts during the war. The names — expected to be announced in the new year’s honours list — are shortly to be considered by Whitehall’s secretive main honours committee....
***
One recommendation for inclusion in the list is that of Jane Marriott, who as head of the Foreign Office department on nuclear proliferation was at the centre of the government’s contentious assessments of Saddam’s weapons. Simon Webb and Paul Roper at the Ministry of Defence, who were involved in analysing the case for war, could also be put forward....
***
The disclosure that Blair has ordered what the leaked memo calls a “special Iraq honours list” comes just days after the CIA-led Iraq Survey Group concluded that Saddam did not possess any weapons of mass destruction. The document does not explain the rationale behind the decision but publication of the list in the run-up to next year’s expected general election is expected to ignite a row over Blair’s use of the honours system for political patronage....
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2761-1302690,00.html On edit: This really steams me -- it's like a slap in the face to those who opposed the war, from members of Blair's own Labour party to people around the world who warned of the consequences of invading Iraq. And how about the war's victims, and their families? And what arrogance, in the face of continuing revelations that the reasons given for going to war were bunk!
:grr:
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
