Published letters on Iraq / Afghanistan

• Blair & the Iraq Inquiry - Feb 2010

• The Tangled web - Nov 2009

• Can you hold elections during a war? - Oct 2009

• Afghan war needs focus - Jul 2009

• Mr Hoon's visit to York re: Fylingdales - Jan 2003

• Iraq & the recall of Parliament - Sept 2002

Blair and the Iraq Inquiry - Feb 2010

In his evidence to the Iraq inquiry Tony Blair defended himself by saying it was a matter of judgement as to whether Iraq should be invaded.

Though he knows Iraq was not responsible for 9/11, Blair said yesterday that after 9/11 everything changed. This is the heart of the issue.

In the aftermath of 9/11 George Bush junior wanted revenge and picked Iraq, without any proof of Iraqi involvement, because 9/11 gave him and the neo-cons the pretext to complete the job they felt President Bush senior should have finished a decade earlier. Blair just tagged along, confecting reasons for joining in as he saw fit.

Blair pretends that everyone believed the threat of WMD, but he knows he is wrong. Across the country we marched against a looming war. A million people marched in London. The Liberal Democrats opposed the war in Parliament.

In the months before the war, UN weapons inspectors declared they found no evidence of WMD in Iraq. Iraq was grandstanding to protect itself from another war with neighbouring Iran. This was all in the public domain.

Blair creates new goalposts as they become expedient. We fight to remove WMD becomes we fight to prevent Saddam from completing his WMD programme, becomes we fight to prevent him having the idea that he might develop plans for WMD.

WMD were irrelevant. It was a matter of judgement. Blair showed poor judgement. Bush senior decided nothing would be gained in geopolitical terms by crushing Iraq, and he was right.

The war was fought because Bush junior wanted revenge and because Iraq has oil. We didn’t curb terrorism, we exacerbated it and for that thousands of allied soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died. Blair has no regrets but his actions have shamed us all.

The Tangled web - Nov 2009

A man who, all agree, rigged an election by stuffing ballot boxes is to be president of Afghanistan because his opponent realises a run off election would be as corrupt as the previous one.

The UK props up an administration that refuses to recognise the rights of women in a land where our courageous troops can trust no-one. We continue to provide weapons training to Afghan ‘policemen’, many of whom have, at best, a tenuous commitment to democracy, human rights and peace.

I fear our war in Afghanistan, which has lasted longer than World War II, is becoming our collective Vietnam. I don’t doubt the sincerity of those who wish to make that country a safer place, I doubt the ability of the west to deliver it. For many the impression is of a war without end in a nation that isn’t ready for democracy.

At the same time our banking system is in chaos, global insecurity is growing, and the signs are that a climate change treaty won’t be agreed in Copenhagen.

Our problems, and many of our global conflicts, come back to energy; how we obtain it, where we obtain it, how we use it, and who profits from it. Our energy pounds go to regimes that either fund terrorism, struggle to contain terrorism, or provoke terrorism by the way they treat their own populations or their neighbours.

We human beings have the capacity to create a safer world and a new economy not based on fossil fuels, what we lack is the political will. We need to see the big picture, admit our errors and cut our loses, face down vested interests, and take up the opportunity to use our resources and skills to create a better future.

Can you hold elections during a war? - Oct 2009

The Sacking of  Peter Galbraith, former head of the UN mission in Afghanistan, highlights the many difficulties facing the attempts to reform and rebuild that country.

I do not doubt that there are many people who genuinely want to see Afghanistan emerge from the dark place it has been in for decades but the contradictions of holding presidential elections while conducting millitary operations are clear for all to see.

What does it mean to be bringing a nation ‘democracy’ in a context where elections are patently unable to be either free or fair? Holding elections where there are no electoral rolls and where voters’ hands are marked with indelible ink to prevent them from voting twice is an irresponsible act in a land where armed gangs have threatened to kill anyone who is found to have voted.

‘Ghost polling stations’ in areas that were too dangerous for the polling stations to actually open but where officials were allowed to fill out ballot papers without the need for an electorate showed the charade up for what it was. A man will be shortly  'elected' President, regardless of how flawed the elections were, and we will be told that we are helping Afghanistan on the road to somewhere batter. 

Too often we hear the reason for our presence in Afghanistan is to make our streets safer. We cannot be surprised then if the Afghan people see our presence in their country as being for our benefit and not for theirs.

Our courageous troops put their lives on the line for us, fighting the Taliban and taking distributing aid when they can, but eight years later, is there any indication of a clear achievable set of goals?

Afghan war needs focus - Jul 2009

I am very concerned about the developing situation in Afghanistan.

Ten British soldiers killed there in just over a week, and this must only be a part of the story because, while the Americans also reveal numbers for the seriously injured, here in the UK we get very little information. We must assume that there are a considerable number of seriously injured soldiers.

We all of us feel moved by the dedication of those courageous young soldiers, some still in their teens, who are prepared to put their lives on the lines for their country.

The Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth tells us that ‘for Britain to be secure, Afghanistan needs to be made secure’ and that ‘more lives will be lost’. Gordon Brown tells us the UK commitment is ‘undiminshed’. The commitment to do what? Bob Ainsworth says the war against the Taliban is winnable, but not in the short term.

The war in Iraq highlighted the many problems facing any enterprise that is not properly thought through or properly resourced, and history has many other examples. The Soviet Union spent years in Afghanistan and achieved nothing.

The government must set out a clear strategy. They have an obligation to the military and to the public to explain what they are committing our soldiers to achieve. What is the strategy linking military progress, reconstruction and aid efforts? How are we helping ordinary Afghans rebuild their lives? How we will measure that Afghanistan is secure? Is it realistic to hope that we can bring democracy and equality to Afghanistan? Under what circumstances will government declare the job done and bring the troops home?  Without clarity on all of this it is hard to see where we are going. The troops and the nation deserve answers.

Mr Hoon's visit re: Fylingdales - Jan 2003

I am very grateful to Mr Hoon for coming to explain the government's position regarding handing Fylingdales over the U.S. missile defense programme.

Mr Hoon informs us that the time to discuss this matter with the British public is AFTER the decision has been reached. Where I come from discussion usually happens BEFORE you reach a decision. Maybe we in Yorkshire don't understand about such things.

He tells us not to worry about North Yorkshire being targetted because no-one attacked us during the Cold War, when there was a real threat. North Korea and Iraq 'have only a handful of missiles available'. In fact, he tells us, they don't have 'sophisticated and highly accurate missiles available to them'. If there's actually no threat, as he concedes, why is the government pretending that there is? He can't have it both ways. Maybe we in Yorkshire don't understand about such things.

This is the same government that is currently talking up the threat to the world from Iraq. If Iraq is such a threat, how is it that Britain and the US have been able to fly over the country dropping bombs week in week out for the past ten years?

If the U.S. government wants a safer world they could perhaps start by paying their huge debts to the UN, in order that the UN can better do its job, instead of consistently working so hard to undermine it.

If the UK government wants a safer world it could perhaps begin by listening to the citizens of this country, our archbishops and other religious leaders. Solving problems involves engaging with the world, and working towards greater equality, not hiding behind a wall of anti-missile missiles and other fantasies.

Iraq & the recall of Parliament - Sept 2002

The proposed informal recall of parliament being discussed by many MPs is a great first step towards re-establishing parliamentary democracy and reminding Blair that he was elected to serve and not to rule.

Parliamentary democracy was established in this country to save us from the whims of monarchs and to create a system whereby those in power were responsible to the will of the people. Our forebears didn't struggle to curtail the unfettered power of monarchs simply to have that power passed on to a prime minister. Since poll after poll clearly shows that the British people do not support a war with Iraq at this time parliament must act, formally or informally, to ensure that Blair is obliged to listen.

To hear Blair threaten the UN fills me with shame. As GerhardShroeder said yesterday what the middle east needs is peace not more war. Why is Iraq to be atacked for failing to comply with UN resolutions, when Israel has flouted UN resolutions for decades?

Unlike the potential threat that Iraq poses, Israel is actively attacking its neighbours. And what of the US which has singularly failed to allow inspection teams in to look at any of its biological, chemical and nuclear warfare plants. The hypocrisy is sickening.

Published and promoted by Christian Vassie, 10 Blake Court, Wheldrake, York YO19 6BT