John Baron MP highlights Iraq War lessons

MP marks ten-year anniversary of the vote and conflict

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the House of Commons vote which sanctioned British involvement in the invasion of Iraq. John Baron MP voted against the war, and resigned from the Shadow Front Bench to do so.

John said,

“At the time, I could not support the invasion because I did not believe Saddam Hussein possessed the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) which were at the heart of the case against him. We now know we went to war on a false premise – there were no WMD.”

“There are clear lessons to take from the war. First of all, the intelligence on Iraq’s WMD was not ‘detailed, extensive and authoritative’, as Tony Blair declared. It was anything but, and was unforgivably massaged by spin doctors to support the Government’s line. This must never be allowed to happen again.”

“The war also gave rise to unintended consequences. A woefully inadequate post-war reconstruction helped to usher in a vicious civil war. Iraq became a honeypot for extremists worldwide and, in a bitter irony, al-Qaeda only gained a foothold after Saddam’s downfall. Meanwhile, minorities, particularly Christian communities, suffered unduly.”

“The invasion radicalised elements of the Muslim world against us. But it also ignored the lessons of history. Western interventions have tended to backfire against us. Communism, for example, as survived longest in those countries in which the West took up arms – China, Cuba, North Korea and Vietnam. We had still not learnt this lesson when allowing ourselves to be drawn into a confused mission of nation-building in Afghanistan.”

“But perhaps the greatest positive from the war is that it may have served to lay to rest, once and for all, the view that the British electorate would instinctively support politicians advocating intervention or war. Blair was never trusted thereafter. As David Cameron considers possible responses to Syria and Iran, he would be wise to reflect on this.”

Ends

Word Count: 346

Date: 18^th March 2013

Notes to Editors:

• For more information, please see John’s article at: http://conservativehome.blogs.com/thecolumnists/2013/03/john-baron-mp-ten-years-on-from-the-invasion-of-iraq-the-british-electorate-does-not-want-war.html#IDComment598349316.