http://blogs.independent.co.uk| Blogs from the Independent newspaper - news, views and features from the world's most free-thinking newspaper| Wed, 22 May 2013 14:48:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2| en hourly 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/28/the-case-for-intervention-in-syria/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/28/the-case-for-intervention-in-syria/#comments Sun, 28 Apr 2013 13:48:44 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34516 In, of all places, The Independent on Sunday. Brendan Simms, professor of of the history of international relations at Cambridge University, argues for Nato intervention in Syria.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/28/the-case-for-intervention-in-syria/feed/ 6 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/09/iraq-the-other-way-up/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/09/iraq-the-other-way-up/#comments Tue, 09 Apr 2013 20:26:27 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34006 The British debate on Iraq looks different turned upside down. John Howard, Australian former prime minister, has given an important speech about his decision to join George Bush and Tony Blair in military action, which led to the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue 10 years ago today. It is important because the arguments are so similar [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/09/iraq-the-other-way-up/feed/ 3 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/08/not-agreeing-about-the-war/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/08/not-agreeing-about-the-war/#comments Mon, 08 Apr 2013 08:59:59 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=33912 I disagree with my colleagues at The Independent and The Independent on Sunday about the Iraq war, and I disagreed with the front page lead story on Sunday.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/08/not-agreeing-about-the-war/feed/ 13 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/18/faulty-recall-about-iraq/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/18/faulty-recall-about-iraq/#comments Mon, 18 Mar 2013 09:21:47 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=33418 Nick Clegg’s two-faced cynicism was the outstanding part of Iraq war anniversary journalism, but there is plenty more with which to deal. John Prescott in the Sunday Mirror elaborated on his recent television interview, in which he said that the Iraq war was wrong in hindsight. Although what he said on television was ungrammatical and broke [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/18/faulty-recall-about-iraq/feed/ 78 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/17/two-faces-of-nick-clegg/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/17/two-faces-of-nick-clegg/#comments Sun, 17 Mar 2013 21:44:07 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=33415 It is the blank-faced cynicism of Nick Clegg that we should fear the most. He has an article in The Independent on Sunday today reminding us that he was against the war in Iraq and saying that he is therefore totally, er, not against British military action in Syria now. He repeats his slogan about the invasion of [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/17/two-faces-of-nick-clegg/feed/ 5 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/14/nick-clegg-defends-tony-blair-over-iraq/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/14/nick-clegg-defends-tony-blair-over-iraq/#comments Thu, 14 Mar 2013 14:03:44 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=33344 Like most reasonable people who disagreed with the invasion of Iraq, Nick Clegg must be embarrassed by the unreasoning haters who have been speaking increasingly on his behalf. Inevitably, he came across one on his phone-in on LBC radio this morning. Dave from Ladbroke Grove: Nick, good morning it’s about another enquiry, this time it’s the [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/14/nick-clegg-defends-tony-blair-over-iraq/feed/ 57 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/12/more-meat-for-the-piranha-tank/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/12/more-meat-for-the-piranha-tank/#comments Tue, 12 Mar 2013 20:56:34 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=33272 You do wonder. Now Richard Norton-Taylor of the Guardian has pitched in with his version of the 10-year-old non-story copied out of another newspaper: The long-delayed Chilcot inquiry report will be published without crucial evidence that would reveal what Tony Blair promised President George Bush in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. Thus combining two anti-war [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/12/more-meat-for-the-piranha-tank/feed/ 8 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/12/self-rebutting-conspiracy-theories/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/12/self-rebutting-conspiracy-theories/#comments Tue, 12 Mar 2013 11:03:21 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=33188 I am literally astonished at the way anti-war myths about Iraq continue to sustain themselves in the "reporting" and re-reporting of non-stories.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/12/self-rebutting-conspiracy-theories/feed/ 79 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/08/journalistically-criminal/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/08/journalistically-criminal/#comments Fri, 08 Mar 2013 13:59:25 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=33120 Rather unexpectedly, as the 10th anniversary of the Iraq war approaches, the myth-making of the antis seems to be subsiding. I had assumed that the anniversary would be another festival of "lies", "illegal war" and "war criminals".]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/08/journalistically-criminal/feed/ 7 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/04/fallows-on-threat-inflation/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/04/fallows-on-threat-inflation/#comments Mon, 04 Mar 2013 19:06:29 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=32999 There is one and only one opponent of the invasion of Iraq to whom I will concede the right to say he told us so. He is James Fallows, who wrote a prescient article for The Atlantic in November 2002 warning that it would not end well. Last week he revisited his assessment, with the kind [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/04/fallows-on-threat-inflation/feed/ 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/03/parliament-square-restored/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/03/parliament-square-restored/#comments Sun, 03 Mar 2013 17:34:41 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=32953 Praise be to the skies. Parliament Square has at last been restored to how it should be. The last remnants of the late Brian Haw’s “peace camp” eyesore were cleared away on Wednesday last week and none of the high horses of antiwar sanctimony even noticed. The last few placards have continued to clutter the pavement [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/03/parliament-square-restored/feed/ 9 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/02/27/blair-on-iraq-on-newsnight-in-full/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/02/27/blair-on-iraq-on-newsnight-in-full/#comments Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:21:13 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=32862 The BBC has put up a video and released a transcript of the rest of Tony Blair’s interview with Kirsty Wark, about 15 minutes long, which will be broadcast on Newsnight tonight. Here is the transcript: 00:00:01: Kirsty: When was the moment that you knew that there were no weapons of mass destruction? 00:00:06: Blair: The moment [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/02/27/blair-on-iraq-on-newsnight-in-full/feed/ 9