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| What have we done? |
May
2004 to Present
November 2003 to April 2004
July 2003 to October 2003
May 2003 to June 2003
March 2003 to April 2003
30th April
Iraqis being tortured
by US soldiers - the so called liberators are no better than Saddam Hussein.
Horrific
pictures of US soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners have been released.
Americans
have humiliated
Iraqis in the very prison where Saddam Hussein's regime tortured inmates.
Judge for yourself.....
A US TV channel showed
pictures of US soldiers humiliating naked
hooded prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib jail. In another report, photos
have been release showing a suspected thief being beaten
and urinated
on by a British
soldier.
24th April
US tries to hide
the truth of war - what Bush
does not want the American people to see.
The MemoryHole
has archived some of the pictures of the war dead.
9th April
George Bush and
Tony Blair are no better than Saddam Hussein - their actions are resulting
in the death
of thousands of innocent Iraqis. It is clear that Iraqis want their country
back, the US response is 'the Pentagon promises a robust
military response'.
9th April
'We've lost the
peace and put the world at risk' - death toll one
year on: USA: 600, UK: 58, Iraq: up to 17,000. A
year on, the situation in Iraq is chaotic,
with open warfare raging in key cities. There are tens of thousands of
Iraqis now determined to fight for their country. The Americans are seen
as hated invaders. Other coalition forces, including the British, are
labelled the same. After the fall of Saddam it seemed as if there might
be civil war as the old hatreds between the Sunni and Shi'ite communities
were unleashed. Instead the impossible has happened. They have united
against a common enemy - the American invaders. The Pentagon refuses to
allow pictures of the coffins coming home to be shown. But American news
bulletins are presenting a daily tale of horror and slaughter. Just as
they did during the Vietnam War.
8th
April
Bush and Blair
have lit a fire which could consume them - the Iraqi uprising will drive
home the forgotten
lessons of empire.
4th April
Bush and Blair
made secret pact
for Iraq war - President George Bush first asked Tony Blair to support
the removal of Saddam Hussein from power at a private White House dinner
nine days after the terror attacks of 11 September, 2001.
3rd April
Powell admits
Iraq evidence mistake - US Secretary of State Colin Powell has admitted
that evidence he submitted to the United Nations to justify war on Iraq
may have been wrong.
23rd March
"He ignored
terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something to stop
9/11" - in the aftermath of Sept. 11, President Bush ordered his
then top anti-terrorism adviser to
look for a link between
Iraq and the attacks, despite being told there didn't seem to be one.
Richard Clarke also said, "I think he's done a terrible
job on the war against terrorism." Mr Clarke's comments came as former
US president Jimmy Carter launched a withering attack, claiming that George
Bush and Tony Blair had waged a war in Iraq based on "lies".
15th March
The war in Iraq
was a disaster - the new Spanish prime minister said: "The war in
Iraq was a disaster, the occupation of Iraq is a disaster."
He called for a grand international alliance against terror and an end
to "unilateral wars". He said "President George Bush and
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair should engage
in "self-criticism" for their mistakes." Bush and Blair
were also accused of lying.
5th March
Blix: Iraq war
was illegal
- Blair's defence is bogus, says the former UN weapons inspector. The
former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has declared that the war
in Iraq was illegal, dealing another devastating blow to Tony Blair.
3rd March
In quotes - read
Blairs quotes about Iraq weapons
as 'war crimes' case is launched. The International Criminal Court in
the Hague is being asked to probe allegations
of war crimes by Tony Blair, Jack Straw and Geoff Hoon.
27th
February
Spy case casts
fresh doubt on war legality - dramatic
new evidence pointing to serious doubts
in the government about the legality of the war in Iraq was passed to
government lawyers shortly before they abandoned the prosecution of the
GCHQ whistleblower
Katharine Gun. She said she acted to try to prevent Britain illegally
invading Iraq. Also, Elizabeth Wilmshurst, a former deputy head of the
legal team at the Foreign Office, has confirmed publicly for the first
time that she resigned last year because she was unhappy with the attorney
general, Lord Goldsmith's legal advice to the government on the legality
of the Iraq war. Claire Short has also claimed
that the UK spied
on Kofi Annan.
15th February
British spy op
wrecked
peace move - a joint British and American spying operation at the United
Nations scuppered a last-ditch initiative to avert the invasion of Iraq.
Senior UN diplomats from Mexico and Chile provided new evidence last week
that their missions were spied on, in direct contravention of international
law. Meanwhile, the case against the GCHQ mole who blew
the whistle on US bugging
is set
to be dropped.
12th February
The World a safer
place? - read this article in Al Jazeera, do you sense any anger
or injustice?
8th February
Hans
Blix doubts
on Iraq intelligence - Former UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix has
said Britain and the US dramatised
intelligence information to bolster the argument for the Iraq war. Those
who drafted the UK's Iraqi arms dossier acted like salesmen trying to
"exaggerate the importance" of their wares. He challenged the
UK and US to produce the evidence of weapons programmes they claim to
have uncovered.
8th February
Britain spied
on UN allies over war vote - Britain helped America to conduct a secret
and potentially illegal
spying operation at the United Nations in the run-up to the Iraq war.
8th
February
JIC alerted Blair
three times over unsafe WMD claimes - Tony Blair was sent three
intelligence reports in the six months during the run up to the Iraq war,
including one that warned him that information on whether Saddam Hussein
still held any chemical or biological weapons was "inconsistent"
and "sparse". The "reliable source" who provided MI6
with the information that Iraq could deploy chemical and biological weapons
within 45 minutes was an Iraqi exile who had left the country several
years previously.
6th February
"Bribes"
from the United States, racism among senior civil servants, and the UK
Government deceiving parliament and the United Nations - no not Iraq,
but the Chagos
Islands. Just one of a long list of shameful legacies of the US and UK.
6th February
CIA chief hits
back at Bush over Iraq claim - the CIA never
claimed that Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat to America in the
run-up to the Iraq war, George Tenet, its Director, said yesterday.
6th February
Blair accused
of 'gross dereliction
of duty - Tony Blair was accused yesterday of misleading Parliament and
dereliction of duty over the Government's claim that Saddam Hussein could
deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes. Michael Howard called
on Tony Blair to resign.
6th February
What was the 45-minute
claim? - both Mr Scarlett and the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon,
admitted to the inquiry that they had been aware that the press reporting
had been wrong but had made no
attempt to correct it. The head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, also
told the Hutton inquiry that the way the claim was presented in the dossier
had been open to "misinterpretation".
4th February
Blair 'unaware'
of WMD threat - Tony Blair has said he was unaware
the 45 minute claim over Iraq's WMD meant only battlefield weapons when
he urged MPs to vote for war in March last year. Is he serious?
He took us to war without knowing the facts, he said that at the time
of the war he was personally unaware
that Saddam Hussein did not have the ability to fire long-range chemical
and biological weapons! Robin Cook, the former cabinet minister, directly
challenged the claim.
4th February
What is Lord Butler
supposed to do? He is the latest victim of Mr Blair’s now Herculean
effort to avoid admitting he misled his people and Parliament. No more
inquiries, now Parliament must
do its job.
4th February
Intelligence chief's
bombshell: 'We were overruled
on dossier' - Brian Jones, the former leading expert on WMD in the Ministry
of Defence, has suggested
that not a single defence intelligence expert backed Tony Blair's most
contentious claims on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. He declared that
Downing Street's dossier, a key plank in convincing the public of the
case for war, was "misleading" about Saddam Hussein's chemical
and biological capability. Dr Jones says: "In my view, the expert
intelligence analysts of the DIS were overruled
in the preparation of the dossier back in September 2002, resulting in
a presentation that was misleading about Iraq's capabilities." Dr
Jones complains that he and others were not allowed to see vital intelligence
supporting the 45-minute claim and chemical production claim.
3rd February
Another whitewash
- an independent
inquiry is to examine intelligence which led Britain to war over Iraqi
weapons of mass destruction. However, it will not
look at the political judgements on the war. Tony Blair said the inquiry
would not re-run Lord Hutton's report, however, political judgements were
not
the remit of the Hutton report. Tony Blair is still trying to hide
the truth, he lied about the threat of WMDs, read some of his quotes!
The Liberal Democrats have refused to sit on the committee, claiming its
terms of reference are so narrowly drawn as to make it virtually irrelevant.
Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy wants no
part of this whitewash.
3rd February
Ambassador Joe
Wilson was sent by the White House to Niger to investigate Saddam Hussein
uranium claims and concluded they were unfounded - so why was this evidence
used to justify war? Listen to an terview by Joe Wilson who claims
that intelligence was cherry-picked and distorted to fit political decisions.
3rd February
Humiliated Blair
forced to order WMD enquiry - Tony Blair was today forced
to bow to overwhelming
pressure for an independent inquiry into Iraq's missing weapons of mass
destruction. A year ago Tony Blair was quoted as saying that anti-war
MP's would have to "eat their words" when banned weapons were
uncovered. The major u-turn
follows the decision by George Bush to set up a similar bipartisan commission
in the US. The failure to find weapons 'has hit allies' credibility'.
3rd February
Blair's Mass Deception
- in the wake of the Hutton fiasco, one truth remains unassailed: Tony
Blair ordered an unprovoked
invasion of another country on a totally false pretext, and that lies
and deceptions manufactured in London and Washington caused the deaths
of up to 55,000 Iraqis, including 9,600 civilians. Consider for a moment
those who have paid the price for Blair's and Bush's actions, who are
rarely mentioned in the current media coverage. Deaths and injury of young
children from unexploded British and American cluster bombs are put at
1,000 a month.
2nd February
Iraq war 'increased
terror threat' - Britons are more - not less - likely to be the target
of terrorist attacks as a result of the war in Iraq, an influential group
of MPs claims. The Foreign Affairs Committee says British interests are
under threat in the short term because of the conflict.
It also claims a failure to find weapons of mass destruction has "damaged
the credibility" of the US and UK's war against terrorism.
31st January
Personal Comment - So
Greg Dyke and Gavyn Davies resigned and took responsibility for the errors
made by their staff, errors that may have played a part in the suicide
of David Kelly. Tony Blair's official spokesman stated, "The prime
minister believes
two decent and honourable men have done the decent and honourable thing
and it is now time to move on."
Tony Blair urged us to war. Many people believed that the war was illegal,
but Tony Blair claimed it was on the basis of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction
(WMDs). Tony Blair broke his promise and did not obtain a second UN resolution
to support war. Iraq's WMDs were the only basis that the UK could legitimately
go to war, the United Nations mandate would make a war for any other reason
illegal. Tony Blair would not share his evidence for the existence of
WMDs with us even though there were serious doubts. He ignored mass protests
against the war, and would not allow the UN inspectors the extra few weeks
they requested to complete their inspection. He claimed Saddam Hussein
was a real and imminent threat to the UK. He had seen the evidence, he
said it was convincing, and on this basis convinced the country to go
to war. He asked us to trust him, and he stood very firmly behind his
intelligence staff. It is now clear that it is unlikely that Saddam Hussein
had WMDs in the lead up to war, and Iraq was certainly not a threat to
the UK. Did Tony Blair deceive us or was there an error in intelligence
information? Tony Blair claimed he had seen the evidence? "When what
you propose to exert is deadly force, you haven’t the right to make
a mistake". It is estimated that over 10,000 innocent Iraqi men,
women and children were killed in the war. This war has cost us more than
5 billion pounds. Can we trust a leader who could make such a mistake?
If there was a mistake in intelligence and Iraq was not an imminent threat,
will Tony Blair follow the honourable lead of the chairman of governors
and the director general of the BBC?
30th January
US admits Iraq
intelligence flaws - the White House has acknowledged
for the first time that its intelligence reports on Iraq might have been
wrong.
Further, MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove ordered his staff to re-check
the single source for the 45-minute claim months after the Iraq war ended.
The move came amid growing concern about the reliability of "secondhand"
intelligence in the weapons dossier drawn up by the Joint Intelligence
Committee. Yesterday, in a devastating blow to Tony Blair's case for going
to war, two top intelligence experts - former JIC head Sir Paul Lever
and ex-deputy chairman Air Marshal Sir John Walker - said the document
was flawed.
29th January
Sign
a petition calling for a FULL
independent, judicial, public inquiry into whether parliament and the
British people were misled about the threat from Iraq.
29th January
The truth is Britain
was tricked into going to war - Hutton did
not ask the big question - did the Prime Minister deceive us? The
Hutton enquiry was certainly a whitewash,
the truth is that we were lied to. Iraq was not a serious threat. An error
in intelligence information? When what you propose to exert is deadly
force, you haven’t the right to make a mistake. Resignations have
been called for within the BBC over the Hutton report and the suicide
of one man. What should be the consequences of an illegitamate war and
the murder of over 10,000 people? The Hutton saga was a sideshow.
The real issue is who will pay the price for war and occupation.
28th January
WMD intelligence
wrong, says Kay - The former senior US weapons inspector, David Kay, has
said intelligence that Iraq possessed stockpiles of chemical and biological
weapons was false.
Mr Kay, who resigned last week, told a Senate committee in Washington
that failures had become apparent in US intelligence-gathering capability.
"It turns out we were all wrong," he said, "and that is
most disturbing."
25th January
Powell casts doubt
on Iraq WMDs - US Secretary of State Colin Powell has conceded that Iraq
may
not have possessed any stocks of weapons of mass destruction before
the war last year. Pentagon and CIA officials also appear to have accepted
that there is little point in searching for weapons stockpiles in Iraq,
and will now concentrate on auditing Iraqi claims of their destruction.
24th January
US chief Iraq
arms expert quits - the head of the team searching for weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq, David Kay, has resigned.
Mr Kay said he did not
believe Iraq possessed
large stockpiles
of chemical or biological weapons. He is being replaced by a former deputy
head of the United Nations weapons inspections team, Charles Duelfer.
Mr Duelfer said earlier this month he believed the chances of finding
chemical or biological weapons in Iraq were now "close to nil".
12th January
Blair admits weapons
of mass destruction may never be found - Tony Blair signalled that weapons
of mass destruction may never
be found in Iraq, in his first admission of fallibility over the central
justification he gave for going to war with Iraq.
9th January
Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace said US officials misrepresented
the threat from Iraqi weapons of mass destruction - there was also no
evidence for the claim that Saddam Hussein would give weapons of mass
destruction to terrorists. It said it had studied hundreds of documents
and interviewed dozens of specialists for its report WMD:
Evidence and Implications. The report says there was "no convincing
evidence" that Iraq had reconstituted its nuclear programme. The
report says it was unlikely Iraq could have destroyed, hidden or moved
large amounts of chemical and biological weapons without the United States
detecting some sign of activity. And it adds: "There was no evidence
to support the claim that Iraq would have transferred WMD to al-Qaeda
and much evidence to counter it." The study concludes that while
the long-term threat from Iraq could not be ignored, it was being contained
by a combination of UN weapons inspections, international sanctions and
limited US-led military action. "Administration officials systematically
misrepresented the threat from Iraq's WMD and ballistic missile programmes,"
it contends.
1st January
Not about oil?
- we now know that the US have previously considered invading the Middle
East to secure oil supplies. Files released in the UK under the 30-year
rule show
that the United States considered using force to seize oilfields in the
Middle East during an oil embargo by Arab states in 1973. The British
assessment
was made after a warning from the then US Defence Secretary James Schlesinger
to the British Ambassador in Washington Lord Cromer. The ambassador quoted
Mr Schlesinger as saying that "it was no longer obvious to him that
the United States could not use force."
29th December
It is undignified
for the Prime Minister to go on believing in a threat from Saddam which
everyone else can see was a fantasy - Robin
Cook.
29th December
Blair under fire
from top clergy - Tony Blair has been criticised
by two Church of England leaders for his handling of the war in Iraq.
Dr David Hope, the Archbishop of York, questioned
the legitimacy of the war and warned that the prime minister would have
to answer in the end to God. Dr Hope, Britain's second most senior church
leader, criticised Mr Blair for not listening to opponents during the
war in Iraq. In an interview in the Times, he said: "We still have
not found any weapons of mass destruction anywhere. Meanwhile, the Bishop
of Durham, Dr Tom Wright, called Mr Blair a "vigilante".
28th December
Bremer 'rejects'
Blair WMD claims - the US official running Iraq appears to have contradicted
Tony Blair's claim
Saddam Hussein had laboratories for developing weapons of mass destruction.
28th December
Revealed: how
MI6 sold
the Iraq war - the Secret Intelligence Service has run an operation to
gain public support for sanctions and the use of military force in Iraq.
The aim was to convince the public that Iraq was a far greater threat
than it actually was.
21st December
A 'war' fought
on half-truths and deceptions
- Christmas could give us time to reflect on, and the New Year the opportunity
to determine, how we might move forward in Iraq and the Middle East and
correct the terrible mistakes of 2003. The co-ordination of the Blair-Bush
press conferences on Friday night claiming a big success in the "war
on terror" has a pathetic tone that reflects the Prime Minister's
desperation and the two men's continuing belief that they can prosecute
their "war" with half-truths and deceptions. There was no link
between Iraq and al-Qa'ida before the war. There is now - the suicide
bombs are evidence of this. The Middle East is crowded with angry young
people who believe the US has propped up dictatorships, misused the region's
oil and supported Israel in its constant breaches of international law,
and therefore carries major responsibility for the oppression and suffering
of the Palestinian people.
20th December
How Saddam could
embarrass the West - a trial of Saddam Hussein would primarily bring forth
evidence of his crimes, but he might also use the forum to remind the
world that he once had his supporters
outside Iraq - in the former Soviet Union, in the Gulf States and in the
West.
3rd December
People the law
forgot - do as I say, not as I do. An example of American hypocrisy and
injustice. It is almost two years since the Guantanamo
prison camp opened. A prison where captives are denied their human rights
and where international law is ignored. Its purpose is to hold people
seized in the 'war on terror' and defined by the Bush administration as
enemy combatants - though many appear to have been bystanders to the conflict.
20th November
200,000 in peaceful
protest
against Bush in London - central London was brought to a standstill as
up to 200,000 people were believed to have taken part in the largest
midweek protest ever seen in the United Kingdom. The majority of demonstrators
made it clear that it was not an anti-American demonstration, but a demonstration
against
George Bush and his policies,
particular his foreign policies and illegal war and occupation of Iraq.
Mr Bush was unable to make any public appearances in London because of
the large number of protesters.
7th November
US ignored Iraq
peace attempts before invasion - in the few weeks before its fall, Iraq's
Ba'athist regime made a series of increasingly desperate peace offers
to Washington, promising to hold elections and even to allow US troops
to search for banned weapons. But the advances were all
rejected by the Bush administration, according to intermediaries involved
in the talks.
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