Galloway demands Iraq enquiry should not be a whitewash

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GALLOWAY DEMANDS IRAQ INQUIRY SHOULD NOT BE A WHITEWASH
‘Inquiry must have full access and remit’ – Galloway responds to government climbdown over Iraq inquiry

Responding to news that the government is to allow an inquiry into the Iraq war to begin in July, Respect MP George Galloway warned that it must go further than the government wants and should be taking place immediately.

“No one has worked harder to force this inquiry than Rose Gentle, Reg Keyes, Peter Brierley and the Military Families Against the War network.

“They deserve to know why their loved ones were sent to their deaths in Iraq . The British public deserves to know how and why the government fabricated a false case for a war that has now cost well over a million lives.

“Everything the anti-war movement said has turned out to be right and everything claimed by the government has turned out to be either wrong, or a downright lie.

“The question at issue is not whether it was right to go to war – that has long been settled in the court of public opinion, so much so that you are hard pressed to find one of the majority of MPs who voted for it who will still defend doing so. The issue is instead precisely how government ministers and officials launched a war that they were told was unnecessary, unjustified and illegal.

“This was a war of aggression that broke international law.

“This inquiry must consider those questions and not be limited in scope to how the war was conducted and what happened afterwards. The public will simply not accept another establishment whitewash.

“Nor, I predict, will people accept an inquiry that has no consequences. The war was based on a mountain of lies. But the only people to have lost their jobs over it are the former editor the Mirror, the former director general of the BBC and one of its lead reporters.

“The feeling against the Iraq occupation remains. It is also growing against the war in Afghanistan , both in Britain , and in north America where I am speaking on those issues in a dozen cities.

“The Stop the War Coalition in Britain will be continuing the pressure to get to the truth of why we were taken to war and will be making the case across the country for why we should learn those lessons and get out of Afghanistan as well.”