Iraq
Jack Straw on Libya: the Iraq connection
Jack Straw has an important and well-written article in The Times today (pay wall), which augurs well for the quality of his memoirs. He points out that one Arab democracy is often left out of the commentary on the uprising across north Africa and the Middle East — Iraq:
No more than Egypt or Tunisia is it [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Saturday, 5 March 2011 at 12:24 pm
Iraq war was built on lies. But not Tony Blair’s
Dreary anti-war regurgitation by Stephen Glover in the Daily Mail today. A new fact has surfaced – or, rather, has been confirmed – in that Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, the intelligence source known as Curveball, has told The Guardian that he made up some stuff about mobile biological weapons labs.
So Glover simply restates all the [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Thursday, 17 February 2011 at 3:56 pm
Jeremy Paxman: “Inappropriate, sneering, partial”
Only three months after the event this time, but the BBC has grudgingly accepted that Jeremy Paxman breached the BBC’s Charter obligation of impartiality with his article in The Guardian about which I wrote in December.
As reported in The Independent on Sunday, Helen Boaden, director of BBC News, has upheld part of the complaint made [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Sunday, 13 February 2011 at 2:16 pm
Iraq: “honest people did and can still disagree”
Another fine anonymous contribution to the Groundhog debate about the Iraq invasion by rms3, whose comment on my blog I wrote about here. Today rms3, who opposed the invasion but from a reasonable perspective, has replied to Johann Hari:
Much as I admire your writing in general and the intent and spirit behind this piece, I [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Saturday, 29 January 2011 at 12:06 pm
Chirac changed mind on Iraq
Good letter from Denis MacShane, who was in 2003 a Foreign Office minister, in The Independent today:
Nicholas Wood is being economical with history when he describes ex-President Chirac’s famous March 2003 interview in which he announced France would veto a second UN resolution on Iraq (letter, 27 January). Chirac made his statement not once but [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Friday, 28 January 2011 at 11:43 am
Arabs, Christians, and the lessons of history
For me as a British Muslim, one of the greatest joys of living in this country is to see the way different faiths are not just tolerated, but embraced. Freedom of worship is one of the fundamental rights of a civilised society, and the way it is fulfilled is emblematic of the British values I love. When that basic right is threatened, it diminishes us all. Every time a group of Arab Christians is attacked and killed in the Middle East for their faith, it sends a shockwave which alarms all right-thinking people, and the slaughter is condemned by political and religious leaders throughout the world.
By Dr Mohammed Abdel Haq | Eagle Eye | Tuesday, 25 January 2011 at 3:05 pm
Was Blair obsessed with Iraq before 2001?
Blair was clearly keen on a tough international stance towards Saddam Hussein but I don’t get the impression that it could be described as an “obsession” for the former Prime Minister.
The Case Against the Iraq War
Unusually, an anonymous commenter, rms3, has made a contribution to the debate about Iraq from an anti-war position that is clear, factual, well argued and reasonable. For the benefit of readers who have better things to do with their time than trawl through the bottom-dwelling creatures that dominate the comments, I reproduce this response to [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Monday, 24 January 2011 at 2:20 pm
Why Iraq?
Why did Blair choose to regard Iraq as the most pressing security threat facing the world in 2003, more dangerous than the likes of North Korea, Libya, Iran etc? Unlike the members of the Project for a New American Century, Blair had exhibited no obsession with Iraq before.
EU silence no longer acceptable on Ashraf
Earlier this month, dozens of buses carrying Iranian regime agents rolled up to the gates of Camp Ashraf in northern Iraq, home to 3,400 Iranian political refugees, where they began a vicious assault against the unarmed residents. Two days earlier, the visiting Iranian foreign minister had reiterated his regime’s demand for the annihilation of the Ashraf refugees, whom Tehran regards as their only serious political opponents.
By Struan Stevenson MP | Notebook | Thursday, 20 January 2011 at 5:57 pm
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