Briefings and information

The war on Iraq: assessing the war and its aftermath

Produced for the Labour Party Conference, Bournemouth, September 2003

The war on Iraq - end the occupation

The most urgent question facing Labour supporters and all other British people must be: How much has the war in Iraq cost in terms of money, lives and our vital relationships with the rest of the world?

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) has an ongoing interest in this question, and so do the rest of the British people. After all, the stated aim of the war was to disarm Iraq of its Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). CND's aims and objectives are: to campaign non-violently to rid the world of nuclear weapons and other WMD and to create genuine security for future generations; to change Government policies to bring about the elimination of British nuclear weapons as a major contribution to global abolition; and to co-operate with other groups in the UK and internationally to ensure the development of greater mutual security.

It was within the context of its objectives that CND felt it was its political and moral duty to take a leading role in mobilising legal, political and public opposition in efforts to stop the war.

In December 2002, CND obtained a legal opinion from Rabinder Singh QC and Charlotte Kilroy of Matrix Chambers, which categorically stated that the Resolution 1441 and the UK/US Draft Resolution did not expressly, or by implication, authorise Member States to use force to disarm Iraq; and that the UK would be acting in violation of international law if it were to join in any attack on Iraq in reliance on the two documents. The vast majority of the members of the United Nations Security Council took a similar view. Most importantly, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said: "unilateral action taken outside the Security Council would not conform to the UN charter". [BBC News, 14th March 2003].

On 21st January 2003, CND organised a Lobby of Parliament when hundreds of people from all over Britain went to the House of Commons to talk to their MPs and to demand that they oppose war;

On 22nd January 2003, CND served Mr. Tony Blair, Mr. Geoff Hoon and Mr. Jack Straw with a notice, which made it clear that if the UK acted so as to breach any International Humanitarian Law (IHL) within the definition of ‘war crimes’, CND and others would take steps to ensure that they were held accountable; and

On 15th February 2003, CND co-organised with Stop the War Coalition and the Muslim Association of Britain, a public march and rally against the war, which attracted an estimated two million people.

In spite of CND's efforts, and in spite of the overwhelming domestic and international opposition, the UK joined USA in launching a pre-emptive military attack on Iraq on March 20th 2003.

Was the war justified?

Although it is almost six months since the start of the war, and five months since US President Bush declared that active combat was over; and although the UK and the US have sent about 1,400 scientists and military experts, the Iraq Survey Group, not a single trace of WMD has been discovered in Iraq. This is in spite of Mr Tony Blair's 18th March statement to the House of Commons when he told MPs that Iraq presented "a real and present danger to Britain and its national security", to the Middle East region in particular, and throughout the world generally. Most importantly, he also claimed that Iraqi WMD could be launched within 45 minutes.

However, since that speech and the war that followed, several events have consistently undermined the Government's case for war, while vindicating CND's opposition.

In his June 17th Radio 4 interview, the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw admitted that allied forces may never find ‘weapons of mass destruction’ in Iraq. Although this admission effectively overturned the entire basis on which Mr. Blair justified his decision to join the US-led attack, Mr. Straw maintained that this failure was "not crucially important" claiming that evidence of Iraqi wrongdoing was overwhelming.

On 10th September, the head of M16, Sir Richard Dearlove admitted at the Hutton inquiry into Dr David Kelly's death that the claim in a government dossier that Iraq could deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes had been ‘misinterpreted’. He also revealed that intelligence experts had warned that military action against Saddam would be counter-productive.

On 18th September 2003, the former United Nations chief weapons inspector, Dr Hans Blix, told the Australian state broadcaster ABC: "I'm certainly more and more to the conclusion that Iraq has, as they maintained, destroyed all, almost, of what they had in the summer of 1991 [The Independent; 18th September 2003].

On 18th September President George Bush told reporters as he met members of Congress on energy legislation: "We have no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the 11 September attacks," [BBC news].

Therefore, the government's own case for war has been proved fatally flawed, if the weapons of mass destruction are not there, and if Saddam Hussein was not involved with the terrorist attacks on the USA.

The cost of the war

By any standard, the human and financial costs of the war in Iraq to the British and Iraqi people have been high and are still rising.

In Iraqi, the war has caused and continues to cause the deaths or injuries of unknown numbers of civilians, particularly vulnerable women and children, while the civilian infrastructure and vital social services like water, electricity, health and education are yet to be restored. It has also caused a near-total breakdown in law and order throughout the country, and particularly in Baghdad. Some of the damages are irreparable, such as the looting or destruction of priceless Iraqi antiquities.

The conduct of the war has ensured that the innocent people of Iraq will continue to pay with their lives for an indefinite period. In June 2003 the Foreign Office issued a circular entitled: 'Iraq - Frequently Asked Questions', in which the department admitted that the UK had used both cluster bombs and depleted uranium munitions in the war in Iraq. In its answer to the question: “How can you justify the use of cluster bombs and depleted uranium?” the document stated: “Cluster bombs are lawful weapons that provide unique capability against certain legitimate military targets, such as dispersed armoured units…UK forces fired depleted uranium munitions during the conflict because they are the most effective anti-armour weapons”. Unfortunately, this statement ignores the fact that the radioactive after-effects of depleted uranium explosions and the unexploded cluster bombs will continue to kill or maim the people of Iraq for years after the current conflict has ended.

The cost of the war to the UK has not been low. By the time we prepared this brief, 17 British troops had been killed since the end of fighting was declared by US President George Bush on 1st May, bringing the total British casualties to 50 troops since the beginning of the conflict in March.

In financial terms, the enormity of the UK commitment to the war was made crystal clear by the Chancellor, Mr. Gordon Brown who told Parliament that Britain would spend “what it takes” to disarm Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. “Last year, I set aside £1.7 billion to be drawn upon by the Ministry of Defence for security and military preparation if and when action became necessary. Last month, I set aside an additional £1.6 billion, making a total of £3.3 billion”. [Guardian 1st April 2003].

Politically, the UK's involvement in the war on Iraq has created deep divisions within the British people, Parliament and within the government, which suffered the resignations of two high-profile Cabinet Ministers, five junior Ministers and that of the Prime Minister's Director of Communication, Alistair Campbell. It has also left the British Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and the Defence Secretary facing a possible investigation by the International Criminal Court.

Internationally, it has severely weakened the United Nations, created major tensions both within the Security Council in particular and the Member States generally; and has created splits within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Alliance and within the European Union.

To cap it all, the Middle East peace roadmap, which was supposed to sell the war on Iraq to the Arab and Muslim world, has almost collapsed. On 15th September 2003, the US vetoed a Syrian-sponsored UN Security Council Resolution condemning the Israeli decision to exile or kill President Yassar Arafat, an elected leader of the Palestinian Authority. As predicted by CND and others who opposed the war, these unwelcome consequences have severely unsettled international peace and security.

A significant political cost of the war was the defeat of Labour in the Brent East Constituency. This saw a 29% swing away from Labour to secure a victory for the Liberal Democrats.

Added to this political cost is the tragic human cost, personified by the former Ministry of Defence weapons expert, Dr David Kelly who committed suicide within days of being identified as the source of BBC reports alleging that the Government had “sexed up” its dossier on Iraqi weapons. The Ministry of Defence has since been accused by lawyers acting for the scientist's family before Lord Hutton's inquiry of playing a “game of Russian roulette” with David Kelly over the protection of his identity.

Summary

To summarise, the war in Iraq can be described in six words: a purposeless but extremely expensive adventure. This is at variance with the core Labour values.

CND recalls that traditionally, the Labour Party used to be distinguished from other parties by its pro-poor and pro-peace domestic and foreign policies respectively. These were the corner stones on which Labour was built with a view to creating a fairer and safer community in the UK and around the world.

CND, like the vast majority of core Labour supporters, is rightly disturbed that the Chancellor of this Labour government should have pledged to “spend what it takes” to finance an illegal war in Iraq, while the gap between the rich and poor widens both in the UK and globally.

Conclusion

CND stands shoulder-to-shoulder with all Labour Party supporters in calling on the government to cut our mounting human and financial losses in the war in Iraq, and return to its core values of reducing poverty and promoting peace. To that end, the government must immediately do the following:

• Bring back all UK military personnel before any further casualties occur;
  
• Expedite the end of the occupation of Iraq, restoring government by the Iraqi people, if necessary through UN facilitation;
  
• Take a lead in nuclear disarmament and get rid of the UK Trident nuclear weapons system;
  
• Give an assurance that it will not join the US in another pre-emptive military attack against another country, particularly Iran and North Korea, the two countries named by George Bush as part of the ‘axis of evil’;
  
• Exploit its unique position in the world as a member of the United Nations Security Council, NATO Alliance, the European Union, the Commonwealth, and its special relationship with the United States to promote non-discriminatory, diplomatic global disarmament of all nuclear weapons under the auspices of the United Nations;
  
  and
• Honour its obligation under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), particularly the final statement of the 2000 Review and Extension Conference in which the UK and the four other declared nuclear weapons states gave an “unequivocal undertaking to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals”.

CND firmly believes that this is the only way the government can and will ensure peace and security for the British people and internationally.

privacy statement | Sitemap