Posted 11:04 AM by Paul
The Paralel Universe of Spin

Who on Earth thought the Shia would support the US and UK? These are the same guys who took the American hotages in Tehran. Asking them to endorse a US Civilian Governor would be like asking the population of Rome to welcome a Mullah in the Vatican.

Any road up I fired off an e-mail to the Labour Party HQ or as I now call it The Death Star and a couple of days later I received a reply from their head aparatchik. It just reminded me that they simply do not inhabit the same time space continuum as us ordinary mortals. It is not a Europe / US thing it isnot a Left / Right thing. It is a real world versus the poltical entrepeneurs My comments are in brackets. Read on for a master class in sophistry from a Mullah of Bullshit.


Thank you for your recent email

The Labour Party has held its discussions on Iraq without rancour and with respect for each others' views. There are deeply held views and that is natural, for there are few more serious choices a country can face than whether or not to take part in military action. [ Actually an invasion and the first time we have done this since the Boer War without first being attacked or having one of our allies attacked. This is a new departure]

The Government has taken the decision to use military action to ensure the disarmament of Iraq, not because we have any quarrel with the people of Iraq - in fact they have suffered more than anyone under the tyrannical Iraqi regime. We have done so to enforce the many UN resolutions [ So would you have gone alone without the US?] on Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction which have been passed over the years. [So you are asking us to believe that Kofi Annan has got it wrong when he called the invasion illegitimate..Again it's down to Trust Tony]

For many years the Labour Party has firmly supported attempts to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, but I can assure you that there was no inevitability [You cannot find a cab driver who believes this tosh. Straight after Sept 11th everyone was talking about how Iraq was now on the list. UK also brought forward deployment of cruise missiles] about military action in Iraq. Saddam Hussein could have chosen to comply with the UN and disarm peacefully. Instead, for twelve years he defied its decisions, [Just like Israel, China and India..so when are we going in to Tibet? } misled its inspectors [not exactly the way Hans Blix sees it] and used every means possible to hold on to and develop his chemical and biological weapons. [So where are they?]

In addition his brutal dictatorship has engaged in a sustained campaign of repression against his own people. [ He is an evil SOB we know. Tony Newton MP who was then a UK minister visited him for a jolly 3 months after he gassed the Kurds] The death and torture camps, barbaric prisons for political opponents and routine beatings for anyone suspected of disloyalty are well documented. If Saddam Hussein's regime continues in this way, many more Iraqi people will be killed and tortured in the future. [ True. But would I prefer my daughter to grow up in a dicatatorship or be blown to bits by a UK cluster bomb?]

All the while he has hoped that division between countries and uncertain
public opinion in the democracies would weaken our resolve and allow him to carry on in power unchecked.

What he has failed to understand is that democracy and open debate are
strengths not weaknesses. In all matters, however, there comes a point when a judgement has to be made. Having taken our decision, this country will now pursue our aims with firm resolve and with determination. [Maybe, but it may come down to tax. We may win the right to police the largest low impact urban war of the last 100 years. It will break the bank.]

Yet if we only disarm Saddam, we will not have completed our task.
[ Aaaah so it is not about the UN resolution after all but about regime change! Why didn't you mention this last year?] It is also vital that the world engages in a sustained humanitarian effort to help the people of Iraq after their years of living under such a repressive regime. [Lets hope so but Kofi has reminded the invaders that under the UN Charter the UK and US has to make good the damage as the war is not sanctioned by the Security Council]

Sixty per cent of the Iraqi population is today dependent on food aid, despite the fact that the Oil for Food Programme allows Saddam to sell as much oil as he wants in order to provide food for his people.

That situation cannot continue. As the Prime Minister said in the debate in the House of Commons last week, the United Nations should be authorised to meet the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people. Iraq's territorial integrity should be protected and Iraq's oil revenues, which some people falsely claim are a reason for military action
[ Would we have invaded if there were no oil? Rupert Murdoch recently proposed in a Fortune Magazine interview that the war "could be good for the Western economies as oil could come down to $20 per barrel"], should be put in a trust fund for the Iraqi people administered through the UN. [ Oh come on now. Are we seriously meant to believe that after spending $85 billion dollars at the start of a recession 18 months from an election Bush and co. will hand over the oil to a trust run by an organisation they despise?. It's a done deal. The oil will be adminstered by the US Civil Governor and part of the proceeds will go to repairing the damage done by the UK and USAirforce.]

We know that many in the Labour Party and the country care deeply about the plight of people whose lives are being devastated by lack of progress in the Middle East peace process.

That's why the recent announcement by President Bush agreeing to publish
the Middle East Roadmap [vacuous jargon]is such a significant step. [When did the Labour Party agree to do the international communications and marketing work for the Republcian Party?] It provides the route to a permanent, two state solution [already opposed by Sharon so forget it] with clear phases and target dates aimed at progress through steps by both sides in all the relevant areas. And the destination is a final and comprehensive settlement of the Israel -Palestinian conflict by 2005. [Yes but where is this plan? We were promised it but it has yet to materialise. It's a scam] The Prime Minister is determined that we should use all our influence [Grow up. We don't have any. This is a myth. We are the sidekick to the USA. They didn't even ask us when they decided to bring forward the start date by 72 hours] to secure the implementation of this vision for the future of the Middle East.

Our vision for the future of Iraq is of a country free of repression able to live peacefully alongside its neighbours and develop in a way its own people choose. It is a progressive vision. [ Spare us the 1990s MTI Change Management rhetoric]

We may face difficult times ahead [ Less self pity please. We are having it easy Iraqi fathers burying their wives and kids are having it tough not Tony Blair] but the decision we have taken is right.

It is important now that our party and our country come together and
support our armed forces in the task they face. [ Party anthem is now Land of Hope and Glory. Clause 4 to be replaced again. This time by Kipling's If]

Yours sincerely,


David Triesman
General Secretary