Sunday, October 24, 2010

Get ready for the next "independent" inquiry into the Iraq War

This is more or less a follow up, or rather a complement to, yesterday's post and with me referring to the UN as "insipid" and "useless" what adjectives might now be appropriate to describe Nick Clegg? In the wake of the leaked US military logs Nick has jumped on the UN bandwagon and said that "he did not rule out the possibility of an inquiry into the actions of British forces in Iraq." Well, with the Liberal Democrats having already accused the previous government of "suffocating" the Chilcot inquiry by giving government departments the power to veto sections of the final report, it might appear that Nick is at least being consistent.  Unfortunately, what we actually have is another round in that "democracy" game, where they all like to blow their own trumpet in order to hold onto the trappings of power, when in fact real power lies elsewhere.

The fact is that Nick is part of a coalition that is involved in another illegal war and really it is difficult to imagine that he doesn't realise that war crimes are in fact being committed on a daily basis by his government. One wonders then what kind of inquiry does he have in mind in light of the latest evidence that has been brought to light? Of course, it is absurd to think that the any conclusions made by an inquiry led by his government are going to be any less flimsy and farcical than those made by the Chilcot inquiry and, indeed, it is equally as absurd to believe that any substantial findings that actually implicate those at the top, will not be suffocated in exactly the same way as the parts of the Chilcot inquiry were suffocated.

There is a far wider strategy and Nick, by implementing and defending the cuts at home, has already shown where he stands regarding that strategy. Furthermore, his continued support for the war in Afghanistan only reinforces this and his views on Iraq post-facto is only indicative of the political "blah, blah, blah" that these non-entities are permitted when it really doesn't matter. Yes, we might even expect Nick to get his inquiry, his opportunity to rubbish a few politicians who will never be returning to office anyway. That, however, is as far as it will go and at the end of the day there will be no challenges to a system and a strategy that made and makes all of this possible and as Nick announces that he will be asking the Israeli Defence Forces for advice on how to launch an independent inquiry into the murder of innocent civilians in an illegal war, the news from Afghanistan today is that more innocent civilians have been killed.

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