On the Justification of the Iraq War – In Memory of Robin Cook
I was a big fan of Robin Cook and decided to watch again his resignation speech when Tony Blair revealed that he thought the Iraq War was justified even if there were no WMD (obviously there weren’t any). Blair seems to have completely lost touch with reality if he thinks his own “moral” believes were good enough to justify a war alongside an American President whose politics was equally based on dogmas.
What a contrast to Robin Cook who made a principled decision and a clear argument why the war was a stupid idea before it started. He is dearly missed.
Fair play to you for posting these videos, Henning. Robin Cook is a man sadly missed. I was particularly struck by Cook’s coments on the role played by the policy of containment in dismantling Saddam’s military capacity given that Blair’s former Chief-of-Staff, Jonathan Powell, today used weasel words to dimnish the success of Cook’s leadership of the Foreign Office with regard to this policy.
Robin Cook was right on WMD, right on the anticipated collapse of the Iraqi military, right on the scale of human suffering unleashed by this war and right on the damage caused to international institutions and international law. Tony Blair and all of his mealy-mouthed apologists were and remain profoundly wrong.
Desmond O’Toole
PES activists Dublin (personal capacity)