Do mention the war - Tony Blair has lost the argument over Iraq

[radfringe]

Do mention the war
Tony Blair has lost the argument over Iraq, and now seeks to evade the issue. But today's protest will hold him to account

Andrew Murray
Saturday September 27, 2003
The Guardian

Today the voice of Britain's anti-war majority will be heard on the streets of London once more. Next week in Bournemouth it will be muffled if Labour party conference organisers get their way and prevent a debate on Iraq.
There is the nub of Tony Blair's crisis. He has lost the argument over the lawless attack on Iraq and with it the confidence of the country, as this week's opinion poll shows, and can now only seek to evade it.

The Iraq issue has become a rock Blair cannot crawl from under, leaving him entirely bereft of the command of the agenda that a premier with a vast parliamentary majority should enjoy. "Don't mention the war" may seem to him like the only plausible policy, but it is a curious start for the prime minister's new "listening" strategy and it will not calm the vast movement of opposition to the war and to the lies which have attended it.

-----snip-----

The intensity of opposition to the conflict articulated through the Stop the War Coalition and its allies (primarily CND and the Muslim Association of Britain) has also rendered it almost - although not quite - inconceivable that Britain could again be committed to join in the next US-led war over a prayer meeting on a Texas ranch. If following Bush to Iraq was a near-death experience for the prime minister, a repeat performance over Iran or North Korea would finish him off.

The US president faces growing domestic discontent because of the occupation of Iraq, which is costing hundreds of US lives without any end in sight. This - rather than any conversion to multilateralism - drives his desire to embroil the UN in the occupation. Indian soldiers dying in blue helmets under US command would not put swing states in the midwest at risk in the same way.

[T_i_B]

1. This is essentially an ad for today's anti-war march

Anndrew Murray is chairman of the Stop the War Coalition who are holding a big demo in London today. I am not attending as I disagree with the Stop the War Coalition about the UN. I would like to see the UN taking over control of Iraq as opposed to a complete withdrawal of troops. I have been on 6 anti-war demos since this time last year but this time I'm giving it a miss.

However, Murray is right that Blair will seek to avoid debate over Iraq at any cost and to censor Labour members who do try to raise the issue of his supreme folly at the "new" labour conference next week. Blair is a coward and a poodle to boot and the sooner he resigns the better.

[Ladyhawk]

2. This is some pretty strong stuff.

I wish there were more articles like this about George Bush misleading this country. GRRRRR.