British Troops Shouldn't Be Moved in Iraq

I always opposed the war on Iraq and voted against it in Parliament. I have no doubt that the redeployment of the Black Watch has much more to do with following George Bush’s agenda for an assault on Falluja than any other possible reasons.

I was one of the signatories to a Commons motion demanding a vote in Parliament on this. The text of the motion was as follows:

“That this House notes the United States Administration's request to send British troops into areas currently patrolled by American-led forces; is aware of the statement by the Secretary of State for Defence that he is inclined to comply; believes that such a move would significantly increase the danger to British troops in Iraq; and therefore calls for a vote in the House before Her Majesty's Government takes a final decision on this matter.”

On the day that the Minister for Defence announced that the decision had been made I questioned him in the Commons on his statement. The question I asked was as follows:

“It is clear, is it not, that what this is about is the facilitating of a massive American assault on Falluja? Many of us are deeply sceptical about the assurances that civilian casualties will be minimised, because they simply do not fit with what we have seen over the past year from the US forces, or with the number of Iraqi civilian casualties that there have already been. It is impossible to go into a town such as Falluja with bombs and heavy armour without causing casualties among innocent civilians on a significant scale. We will be blamed for that, because of this deployment.”

I hope this makes clear my opposition to what is happening, and my concerns about the consequences.

Oct 2004

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