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Beckett denies Iraq war was a mistake

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Oct 30, IRNA
UK-Beckett-Iraq
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett Monday denied that the Iraq war was a mistake and that Prime Minister Tony Blair should resign over the decision.

Beckett also insisted that the decision to commit British forces to military action in Iraq back in 2003 was taken by the Blair cabinet and that as such all ministers abided by "collective responsibility."

"No, we did not `toe the line,'" she said in reference to reports that Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown only backed the invasion after the prime minister threatened to otherwise sack him.

"We took the decision after much painful consideration and in good conscience on the basis of the evidence before us. And I believe it was the right decision," the foreign secretary told the Independent newspaper in response to readers' questions.

She declined to say whether she felt any sense of "guilt" about the tens of thousands of innocent civilians who have been killed as a consequence of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but said that any death is of "immense concern."

Despite growing calls, including from military leaders, for withdrawal of British troops, Beckett still insisted that the UK's armed forces, currently numbering some 7,000, "will stay until the job is done" when Iraqis can take full responsibility for security.

Asked whether the invasion of Iraq will be judged as a success, she said that "no one can predict what judgment history will make about Iraq."

"But if we are able to put it back on its feet and to leave it with an elected government which is at the service of the people, that will be for the first time almost in living memory," she added.

In the interview, the foreign secretary also denied that she remained silent in the face of the Israeli regime's month-long bombardment of Lebanon in July, saying that she called "on every occasion for a cessation of hostitilies."

"We argue consistently to defend democracy and freedom in every part of the world," she also said in response to accusations of double standards in the UK's foreign policy.

Beckett, who suddenly replaced Jack Straw as foreign secretary in May, admitted that she did not expect to be appointed to the post and had resorted to the use of "less than diplomatic language out of sheer surprise" when she was told by Blair.

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