THE SPECTRE OF IRAQ RETURNS TO HAUNT BLAIR

As Peter Mandelson has now made more comebacks than Frank Sinatra, presumably the Blairs thought it was their time to return to the stage. Amid talk of an imminent EU Presidency, Tony and Cherie returned to grace a service for the war dead at St Paul's. But one grieving parent wasn't having it, denouncing Blair as a war criminal.
If the Blairs imagine two years on the fat cat lecture circuit - and countless homes funded by their travels - have rehabilitated them then yesterday's incident was a sharp reminder that people's memories are not that short. And that the waste of thousands of lives in an unnecessary and illegal war will not be erased from the history books.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1219241/Tony-Blair-makes-surprise-appearance-Queen-pays-tribute-Iraq-veterans-St-Pauls.html

REMEMBERING WAR

Tuesday marks the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day. The end of the "war to end all wars" in which both my grandfathers fought and in which they were among the lucky ones who survived.
I spent most of yesterday at church services and parades in Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd where many people gathered to remember the war dead - military and civilians. As we braved filthy rain and cold one of the local Vicars remarked it was appropriate weather to pay tribute to those who had endured unimaginable horrors in the trenches. That was putting it mildly.
Ninety years on the killing goes on .
Today, the BBC reports that at least 28 people have been killed by three bombs that exploded just moments apart in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
The first two blasts were car bombs and then a suicide bomber detonated his charges in the crowd that had gathered to help.Another 68 people were injured in the blasts, which took place during morning rush hour in the Shia area of Kasra.
Over the weekend, there were reports that troops could be out of Iraq by April . With the advent of Obama in the White House, one can only hope there is soon a prospect of bringing the troops home - all of them.

FIVE YEAR PLANS....

Tonight I realised with some astonishment that it is FIVE years, not the four I had somehow morphed it into, since George Bush came to the UK on a State Visit that had hundreds of thousands of us on the streets of London protesting.
It was one of those many days in 2003 in which one felt deeply ashamed at what the Government and in particular our then Prime Minister Tony Blair had done in our name in Iraq - but such events bring the consolation of solidarity with others and many of the people I met on that cold November day in 2003 have since become good friends.
We all marched behind the Labour Against The War banner and I remember someone burning a US flag as we marched down Whitehall and into Trafalgar Square. I also remember talking to someone who was a civil servant and hiding his face from the TV cameras.
At the time, I was working for the Government 's press office in Manchester and not supposed to be politically active. So I made up some excuse as to why I would not be in work that day. But as I recall it people in the office just exchanged wry smiles ( well, the ones who knew me well). And now the Bush era is almost at an end .
In 24 hours' time America chooses a new President. Chances are it will be Obama. At least I hope so. Because whatever the shortcomings of the Democrats in the US, it will be the end of the George W years - and that has to be for the good. One can only hope that a change in the White House will bring some resolution to the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan - where five years down the line the killing goes on.

LET'S GET TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ

Today's Independent reports that Gordon Brown is planning a joint initiative with Barack Obama to get the troops out of Iraq in the next 16 months. Let's hope so. I would like to see it sooner - but at least if there is a timetable there is some hope of light at the end of this very dark tunnel.
One of the candidates yesterday spoke of her "heartbreak" at what the Iraq issue had done to the Labour Party. Like many others in the room, I was with her on that march with two million others in February 2003. The one which the Government tragically ignored.
Five years on, I think we would all now agree this illegal and unnecessary war has riven the Party asunder and cost us thousands of members. But let's reserve our sorrow for those whose lives continue to be blown apart on a daily basis by the needless death and suffering. And let's get the troops home ASAP.

NEW YEAR READING......

Am trying desperately not to read Tony Benn's latest Diaries ( a Christmas present) too quickly - but they are truly fascinating and it's hard not to just carry on reading.

Just finished the chapter on the run-up to the Iraq war and it's so interesting to note that Benn was absolutely right about its impact in Blair and, of course, the fact that as Saddam Hussein told him perspnally, Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction NOR any link with Al-Quaeda. The death of Benazir Bhutto is of course already being used to whip up support for the "war on terror" when the hard fact is that all this supposed "war" has done is cause even more deaths and whip up support across the world for religious fundamentalism.

As with all the other Diaries , there are lots of telling little vignettes. Strong hints dropped that Hilary Benn did NOT support war in Iraq, likewise Harriet Harman. And , curiously, tales of Jack Straw dropping in on a Campaign Group meeting in 2003 to gauge opinion of Blair and the leadership. Maybe at that time he was considering running against Blair and was canvassing for support. And not beyond the bounds of possibility the same thing might happen again if Brown continues to screw up in 2008.

A VICTORY FOR DEMOCRACY

Well done all those who stood firm: PA now reports the anti-war protesters are being allowed to march on Parliament this afternoon, calling for British troops to be withdrawn from Iraq.
Police had threatened to ban demonstrators from walking down Whitehall to Parliament.
But less than an hour before the march was due to start, organisers were apparently told it would be allowed to go ahead.

WHY AREN'T WE HELPING THE REFUGEES?

Today,Gordon Brown is expected to make a statement to Parliament over Iraq. The original scenario for this was of course that this would be done in a febrile pre-election atmosphere. Well now he is in a very different place and I hope an issue raised in today's Guardian will be taken up by MPs.
Figures obtained from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees show that Britain has taken in only 17 Iraqi refugees in 2007, out of the thousands waiting in Jordan for resettlement in safe countries.
Amnesty International's Jan Shaw, describes this as "extremely disappointing", saying the government "should stop sending people back to the violence in Iraq and it should stop forcing refused Iraqi asylum seekers into legal limbo and destitution".
The US has accepted 918 Iraqis from Jordan this year, and has also faced criticism from the US Congress and human rights groups. Sweden - which did not take part in the invasion and occupation - has taken 250 Iraqis.
The UNHCR's offices in Amman, which run a rigorous screening programme before they register Iraqis as legitimate asylum claimants, said 123 names had been submitted to Britain. "If we put a case forward, it means we consider this is a case that needs and deserves resettlement. If you can get an answer from Britain as to why it takes so long, I would love to hear it", Margo Rayment, the UN's resettlement officer, said yesterday.That question should be put to the Government.

JOIN ANTI-WAR PROTEST OCTOBER 8

I can't be in London on Monday October 8. I urge all those who can to join Tony Benn , Walter Wolfgang, and other Stop The War Coalition members who will defy Government plans to stop them lobbying Parliament when it re-convenes. STWC President Tony Benn has delivered a letter to the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to make it clear the Troops Out demonstration at will take place,despite the ban by the government and police. So much for Gordon Brown's grandstanding. The police have now decreed there can be no marches within one mile of Parliament. It is utterly shameful that that it should be proposed that the march should not go ahead. Sign the letter protesting against the ban, join the demonstration if you can and do everything possible to publicise the protest. More info :www.stopwar.org.uk

WILL IT ALL BE OVER BY CHRISTMAS?

The PM's announcement today of more troop withdrawals ( though half had already been announced) must up the ante even further of a General Election. 4500 troops WILL remain in Iraq, but this news will obviously be welcomed by an electorate desperate to draw a line under the Blair years. I'm now convinced he will announce an Election next week.......unless events intervene.

BEGINNING OF THE END?

Some good news at thr weekend as it was announced 500 British troops are to pull out of Basra palace , with withdrawal from the city itself expected in the autumn. yesterday, the Sunday Times predicted Gordon Brown would use his first Westminster statement of the autumn to announce some kind of exit strategy. Let's hope they are right.

HOW MUCH LONGER ?

For the fifth year running, anti-war campaigners will be meeting at Labour Party Conference. Last time I was in Bournemouth, it was 2003 and Labour Against The War was discussing the immediate aftermath of the conflict.

A year later, in Brighton, I was there when dozens of journalists from around the world joined delegates crammed into the Friends' Meeting House for a harrowing evening which included an unbearably poignant telephone interview with the brother of Ken Bigley, at that stage still alive and pleading with Tony Blair for his life. It's fair to say that few of us then would have thought three years on we would still be urging a Labour Government to take immediate steps to bring an end to this unholy alliance with the US which has led to so much death and suffering. Last year, at the Manchester conference (pictured) thousands of us marched in what we knew would be Blair's last conference. Despite the change in leadership which some erroneously thought would lead to a sea-change in our foreign policy, nothing has changed and meanwhile the recriminations continue.

The former head of the British Army has now attacked US postwar policy, calling it "intellectually bankrupt". General Sir Mike Jackson, who headed the army during the war in Iraq, describes as "nonsensical" the claim by the former US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that US forces "don't do nation-building". He has also hit back at suggestions that British forces had failed in Basra. In his autobiography, he says tha Rumsfeld was "one of the most responsible" for the current situation in Iraq. Just what will it take for this Govt to change tack?

STILL LEAVING THE PARTY......

Sad to report I have just had an e-mail from a local Labour Party member who has just resigned. Here's why...and here's why the Left MUST put pressure on Gordon Brown and the Govt.
"When 500 or more people were killed recently by a bomb in Iraq. I like most sane people was horrified. I did not see one government minister talk about this in the media. Its as if these people do not exist. I can no longer stand by morally and justify campaigning and helping a party that has in my opinion lost its way from the humane stand point.
We have failed in the greatest possible way internationally and I had hoped that the new change in government would of taken this on board and at least had the guts to apologise properly.Our young men are DYING FOR NOTHING we stand by and say NOTHING.
It is nothing more than a disgrace.
When you try to discuss any of this with our party members at the top you get the cold shoulder or a call centre run by an anonymous person who is not really connected to the parties routes.I cannot support this immoral behaviour anymore and have decided to use my influence and work in other ways to try and do my bit for REAL SOCIALISM."

THE STUPID AMERICAN

My guess is that the profoundly wise novelist Graham Greene will be spinning in his grave after being invoked ( a quote from Greene's book The Quiet American) by President George Bush in his latest rant about Iraq. Ignoring most of the advice from military strategists, Bush continues to insist American forces will stay there as long as he is President. Which, for the record, is another 15 months.

Bush is so deluded that he even has the temerity to make comparisons with Vietnam - where US policy similarly encouraged extremism and guerrilla warfare. In Vietnam, of course, then Labour PM Harold Wilson did NOT make the fatal mistake of committing British troops to military action. And Gordon Brown has got to start listening to the wiser voices on this side of the Atlantic who counsel an exit strategy - fast.

By the way, how crass is Bush's assertion that America is the "greatest force for human liberation the world has ever known." Right, well tell that to the 655,000 Iraqis who have died since spring 2003 - with God knows how many more to come. Not to mention the victims of the many other repressive regimes aided and abetted by America over the years. Chile, Nicaragua, I could go on.......plus the CIA's.FBI's hounding of anyone remotely on the left

PS: The film version of The Quiet American, an exceptionally good anti-war polemic starring Michael Caine, was made before 9/11. American distributors banned it for a year before release.

TIME TO GO......

Today's Indy reports that senior military chiefs have told the Government that Britain can achieve "nothing more" in south-east Iraq, and that the 5,500 British troops still deployed there should move towards withdrawal without further delay.
Last month Gordon Brown said after meeting George Bush at Camp David that the decision to hand over security in Basra province – the last of the four held by the British – "will be made on the military advice of our commanders on the ground".
Two generals have told The Independent on Sunday that the military advice given to the Prime Minister was, "We've done what we can in the south [of Iraq]". Commanders want to hand over Basra Palace – where 500 British troops are subjected to up to 60 rocket and mortar strikes a day by the end of August. The withdrawal of 500 soldiers has already been announced by the Government. The Army is now allegedly drawing up plans to "reposture" the 5,000 that will be left at Basra airport, and aims to bring the bulk of them home in the next few months.
When Parliament resumes in October, the utmost pressure must be put on the Govt for an immediate withdrawal strategy.

IRISH AND MANC REBELS COMBINE IN ANTI WAR ANTHEM

One I missed earlier - Ex Stone Roses man Ian Brown ( now 42) and outspoken Sinead O'Connor are combining in a new single, Illegal Attacks It tells the story of a British soldier in Iraq who gets caught up in a night operation in which a mother and father are taken hostage and both the song and accompanying video will be posted on the Stop the War Coalition website.
Brown's lyrics do not exactly pull any punches ....."So what the fuck is this UK, Going in with the US of A in Iraq and Iran and Afghanistan. There's hardly a day goes by, How many sons have to die?... These are illegal attacks so bring the soldiers back."
The protest song is released on September 17.......News that Brown, one of the many lads whose career was nurtured by the late Tony Wilson, is still going strong has cheered me up in a week when I have felt pretty sharply the intimations of mortality. Am pretty sure that maverick lefty Wilson would approve.....another of his proteges, New Order's Peter Hook , is another fervent supporter of STWC.

IRAQ - FORGOTTEN BUT NOT GONE

Note with horror 200 more deaths in a suicide bombing attack in Iraq - and 5 civilian deaths (including that of a five-year-old girl) thanks to a raid by US troops. Without being callous, this is a nation which gets hysterical about the tragic disappearance of one child. Yet every day people are dying in Iraq and we're seemingly completely inured to the ongoing hideous legacy of Blair's foreign policy disasters. I hope when Parliament re-convenes (if not before) that voices will once again be heard calling for some kind of endgame to this four-year war. The days of the big demonstrations may be over, the killing sadly isn't.

BUSH MUST YIELD TO PRESSURE

George Bush looked distinctly shaky at his news conference yesterday .Today, the pressure piles on with the US House of Representatives voting in favour of pulling most combat troops out of Iraq by April next year. A Senate vote on the issue takes place next week.Our MPs must carry on putting on the pressure, too. Giving Gordon "a chance" should not mean forgetting that hundreds are dying every day on the streets of Iraq - and lobbying to , at the veryg least, have an exit strategy planned as soon as possible.

STILL NOT IN MY NAME......

Thanks to Owen for an excellent analysis of the situation in Iraq, and the implications of today's report to the White House.
One of the most chilling items of news I read this week was the thoughts of the Head of US Army operations in Iraq General David Petraeus.He said it was too soon to tell if the surge was working and told the BBC that fighting the insurgency was a "long term endeavour" which could take "decades." How many more lives will have to be lost before this tragic folly comes to an end? Sadly, daily bombings and maimings in Iraq don't seem to be "news" any more and I read many other commentators suggesting Iraq is not "an issue." for the Prime Minister.What mendacious, disgraceful nonsense.
Just because Blair has gone, and daily killings are now taken for granted by the news media, let's not pretend we don't need an exit strategy. Fast. If Brown really wants to make his mark in a positive manner we can all applaud, he should get to work on it now.

SAD FOOTNOTE ON BLAIR YEARS

Just been watching Andrew Rawnsley's documentary on Blair. Don't know why, really, as all it did was predictably fuel anger and sense of useless waste of human life. But some interesting observations from those closest to the PM. Brown was pretty much against the War but ultimately went along with it. Blair was going to quit in 2004 ( he should have done). And Campbell ( as most of us knew) was sacked.Good quote too from Lord Kinnock:"What the hell is a labour Prime Minister doing with George Bush." Part 2, if you can face it, Monday night.

THE BEST LEADER WE NEVER HAD

Watching Question Time last night I was reminded of why Tony Benn was (and is ) head and shoulders above any of his contemporaries in the Labour Party. At nearly 82, he is still sharp as a tack, erudite and deeply impressive whatever he is talking about. Last night's discussion on Iraq showed him on absolutely top form. There was a telling moment when the camera suddenly switched from Benn to Des Browne, who didn't know he was on camera. Browne clearly agreed with every word Benn was saying but of course was there to parrot the Government line that Iraq is not an unmitigated disaster and that the world is a safer place because we have got rid of Saddam.
The worst decision Tony Benn ever made was not to switch to a safer seat in 1983 ,when boundary changes made his Bristol constituency marginal. He lost , and we lost the best leader we would ever have had. Kinnock was elected instead and the rest is now New Labour history.
The scandal of a Labour , a LABOUR Chancellor punishing the poor for the sake of a good Sun headline is one which I hope returns to haunt him. Preferably at the leadership election.