{"id":4246,"date":"2010-07-22T06:46:40","date_gmt":"2010-07-22T10:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/?p=4246"},"modified":"2010-07-22T15:53:12","modified_gmt":"2010-07-22T19:53:12","slug":"now-regularly-being-spoken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/2010\/07\/22\/now-regularly-being-spoken\/","title":{"rendered":"it should be remarked upon&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<br \/>\n<blockquote>\n<div align=\"center\">  \t\t\t\t\t\t<strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/news.sky.com\/skynews\/Home\/Politics\/Prime-Ministers-Questions-Nick-Clegg-And-Jack-Straw-Clash-As-Clegg-Says-Iraq-Invasion-Illegal\/Article\/201007315668438?lpos=Politics_Third_Home_Page_Article_Teaser_Region__1&#038;lid=ARTICLE_15668438_Prime_Ministers_Questions%3A_Nick_Clegg_And_Jack_Straw_Clash_As_Clegg_Says_Iraq_Invasion_Illegal\">Clegg Calls Iraq Invasion &#8216;Illegal&#8217; At PMQs<\/a><br \/>           Sky News Online<\/strong><br \/>           by Ruth Barnett and Miranda Richardson<br \/>           July 21, 2010<\/div>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" height=\"100\" border=\"1\" title=\"Nick Clegg\" alt=\"Nick Clegg\" src=\"http:\/\/news.sky.com\/sky-news\/content\/StaticFile\/jpg\/2010\/Jul\/Week3\/15668612.jpg\" \/>&nbsp; <img decoding=\"async\" height=\"100\" border=\"1\" title=\"Jack Straw\" alt=\"Jack Straw\" src=\"http:\/\/news.sky.com\/sky-news\/content\/StaticFile\/jpg\/2010\/Jul\/Week3\/15668842.jpg\" \/><br \/>        <sup>Why is Jack Straw smiling?<\/sup> <\/p>\n<div align=\"justify\"><strong>Nick Clegg<\/strong> has taken Prime Minister&#8217;s Questions for the first time  but raised eyebrows by calling the invasion of Iraq &quot;illegal&quot; at the  dispatch box. The Deputy Prime Minister replaced David Cameron at the  Commons session because the Prime Minister was away in the United  States. <strong><font color=\"#200020\">In an exchange with Jack Straw, who represented the opposition, Mr  Clegg said: &quot;Perhaps one day you could account for your role in the most  disastrous decision of all, which is the illegal invasion of Iraq.&quot; <\/font><\/strong>  <\/div>\n<ul>\n<div>The coalition Government has not expressed a view on the legality or otherwise of the Iraq conflict.<\/div>\n<\/ul>\n<div align=\"justify\"> \t\t\t\t\tA Downing Street spokesman: The remark prompted questions over whether, as he was standing in for  the Prime Minister, he was speaking on his behalf. Mr Cameron and the  Conservative frontbench voted for the war. But the Deputy Prime Minister&#8217;s spokesman said Mr Clegg was  expressing his own &quot;long-held view&quot; about the legality of the war and  would wait for the results of official Chilcot inquiry&#8230;<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div align=\"justify\">Some Brits don&#8217;t mince words. It is, of course, a very good point. In the first round of the Chilcot Inquiry&#8217;s public hearings, Jack Straw and Tony Blair were silver tongued, but it was apparent that they were giving a very carefully constructed version of what went on &#8211; &quot;truth-like&quot; rather than &quot;truth-ful.&quot;<\/div>\n<p align=\"justify\">In an earlier post based on the British Press accounting, I mentioned the testimony of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Carne_Ross\" target=\"_blank\"><strong><font color=\"#200020\">Carne Ross<\/font><\/strong><\/a> [who I claimed looked like Clark Kent]. Mr. Ross was a UK Diplomat assigned to the UN who resigned over misgivings about the legality of the Iraq War. He has been an outspoken critic of Mr. Blair. His testimony to the Butler Committee was released only after a battle [<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/headlines06\/1215-06.htm\"><strong>Diplomat&#8217;s Suppressed Document Lays Bare the Lies behind Iraq War<\/strong><\/a>].<\/p>\n<div align=\"justify\">I went back and read his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.iraqinquiry.org.uk\/media\/47534\/carne-ross-statement.pdf\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Statement<\/strong><\/a> to the Chilcot Committee and watched his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.iraqinquiry.org.uk\/transcripts\/oralevidence-bydate\/100712.aspx\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>testimony<\/strong><\/a>. He&#8217;s an intense, outspoken man but his testimony was, in my opinion, brilliant. I&#8217;ll add him to my list of Heros in the lead-up to the Iraq War. He begins by acknowledging a fallen hero, <strong>Dr. David Kelly<\/strong>, a casualty of the War in Iraq:      <\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<div align=\"justify\"><strong><font color=\"#200020\"><img decoding=\"async\" hspace=\"4\" height=\"112\" border=\"1\" align=\"right\" src=\"http:\/\/t1.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:-nTt4JqtXrXSjM:http:\/\/www.alien-earth.org\/news\/images\/davidkelly.jpg\" \/>Before offering my testimony, I would like to pay tribute to a man who should have been here to give his account. His testimony would have been authoritative, rigorous and honest, for these were his qualities. At the UK Mission in New York, we relied considerably on David Kelly as one of the few experts able to interpret and convey, with a scientist&rsquo;s discipline and objectivity, the complex and uncertain picture of Iraq&rsquo;s WMD. I hope that this inquiry will do all it can to restore the values which David&rsquo;s work exemplified.<\/font><\/strong>      <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div align=\"justify\">While the interview began with a contentious set of exchanges, I thought the Committee did a good job of letting Mr. Ross have his say. He had come to say that &quot;the Emperor had no clothes&quot; and he got it said. I recommend watching his testimony [better that a Masterpiece Mystery Theater]. Here&#8217;s his bottom line, which to me is an unassailable truth:      <\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<div align=\"justify\"><strong><font color=\"#200020\">THE CHAIRMAN:<\/font><\/strong> I would like to finish, because time is pretty much our enemy &#8211; I think all I want to ask is whether, given your very full statement and what we have been able to discuss this afternoon, is there anything that you would like of real significance to add that hasn&#8217;t been covered either in the statement or in what we have heard from you this afternoon? <br \/>        <strong><font color=\"#200020\">CARNE ROSS:<\/font><\/strong> I think the thing that I felt was important &#8211; I mean, I put &#8211; spilt quite a lot of ink on the Iraq subject, as I&#8217;m sure you are aware, and the thing I felt I really wanted to get to grips with this afternoon was the alternative to military action, that <strong><font color=\"#800000\">there was no deliberate discussion of available alternatives to military action in advance of the 2003 invasion. There is no record of that discussion, no official has referred to it, no minister has talked about it, and that seems to be to be a very egregious absence in this history that, some point, a government, before going to war, should stop and ask itself &quot;Are there available alternatives?&quot; and, as my testimony makes clear, there was an available alternative. All that argument about tightening sanctions and stopping illegal breaches to me amounted to a very viable, robust, alternative to military action that would have had the possible effect of undermining the Saddam regime and certainly would have prevented any major rearmament. Indeed, our assessment was that major rearmament was not in any case happening. The fact that that deliberation, that consideration of alternatives did not take place is, to me, a disgrace and it should be remarked upon. <\/font><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" hspace=\"2\" height=\"70\" border=\"1\" title=\"Downing Street Memo\" src=\"http:\/\/t0.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:oNoI8yGT5gpusM:http:\/\/whitehouse.georgewbush.org\/news\/2005\/images\/downing-street-memo.gif\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"92\" hspace=\"2\" height=\"70\" border=\"1\" alt=\"Katherine Gun: fired\" title=\"Katherine Gun: fired\" src=\"http:\/\/t1.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:N74xUUZHdC81hM:http:\/\/yearofdemocracy.co.uk\/guests\/katharinegun.jpg\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" hspace=\"2\" height=\"70\" border=\"1\" alt=\"Elizabeth Wilmshurst: resigned\" title=\"Elizabeth Wilmshurst: resigned\" src=\"http:\/\/www.chathamhouse.org.uk\/files\/15395_elizabeth_wilmshurst65x85.jpg\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" hspace=\"2\" height=\"70\" border=\"1\" alt=\"Robin Cook: resigned\" title=\"Robin Cook: resigned\" src=\"http:\/\/t1.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:D3tp6UcoMbkRAM:http:\/\/www.hebig.org\/blogs\/archives\/main\/robin_cook.jpg\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" hspace=\"2\" height=\"70\" border=\"1\" alt=\"Dr. David Kelly: murdered?\" title=\"Dr. David Kelly: murdered?\" src=\"http:\/\/t1.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:-nTt4JqtXrXSjM:http:\/\/www.alien-earth.org\/news\/images\/davidkelly.jpg\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" hspace=\"2\" height=\"70\" border=\"1\" src=\"http:\/\/t2.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRK4l8N4gjBgPu-BXBqFqdIJ18qDUUlsGfyg407iSotLjOdpjk&#038;t=1&#038;usg=__JFAjIDMm7xZQX4GkrZMoFSxVIVI=\" alt=\"Carne Ross: resigned\" title=\"Carne Ross: resigned\" \/><br \/><sup>Heros of the Realm in the Iraq War<\/sup><\/p>\n<div align=\"justify\">It was an &quot;illegal war.&quot; Jack Straw did play a part in it. Dr. Kelly was telling the truth. &#8211; the dossiers were &quot;sexed-up.&quot; Viable alternatives to military action were not seriously considered. The truth is now regularly being spoken in the UK. Here in the US, we&#8217;re not yet really talking about it&#8230;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clegg Calls Iraq Invasion &#8216;Illegal&#8217; At PMQs Sky News Online by Ruth Barnett and Miranda Richardson July 21, 2010 &nbsp; Why is Jack Straw smiling? Nick Clegg has taken Prime Minister&#8217;s Questions for the first time but raised eyebrows by calling the invasion of Iraq &quot;illegal&quot; at the dispatch box. The Deputy Prime Minister replaced [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4246\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}