Gordon Brown says Pentagon misled UK over case for Iraq invasion

[sandensea]

The US Defence Department knew that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction but kept Britain in the dark, according to an explosive new claim from Gordon Brown.

In an extraordinary allegation, the former prime minister states that a secret US intelligence report into Iraqs military capabilities was never passed to Britain and could have changed the course of events. The revelation leads Brown to conclude that the war could not be justified as a last resort and invasion cannot now be seen as a proportionate response.

He adds that the evidence in question was never examined by the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war, which concluded that Britain chose to join the invasion before peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted. Browns intervention will reopen the debate about Britains decision to join the US-led invasion of Iraq. Tony Blair used the assertion that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction to argue that Britain needed to join the military action.

Brown makes the claim in his new book, My Life, Our Times, published this week. He writes that there was a rush to war in March 2003, adding that he asks himself over and over whether I could have made more of a difference before that fateful decision was taken.

At: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/05/iraq-weapons-mass-destruction-america-misled-britain-gordon-brown

[MaryMagdaline]

1. BS Bush lied

And you and others pretended to believe the lie. No one with half a brain believed there were weapons of mass destruction. You, Bush and Blair can all rot in hell.

[sandensea]

3. Right. This mea culpa of his isn't exactly credible.

Especially since it mostly just confirms what the Downing Street memo told us 12 years ago already.

"What was Downing Street again? Sounds familiar." "Search me."

[Denzil_DC]

5. Can't argue with this.

Brown tried to have his cake and eat it.

He kept silent while the torn-from-us-too-soon Robin Cook spoke out and resigned on principle.

There's no way Cook had access to more information than Brown. One was a principled politician. The other was just biding his time till it was "his turn". That worked out really well.

[Doodley]

2. Tony Blair fabricated the case for war and Gordon Brown never once questioned it.

[Voltaire2]

4. Oh horseshit, the UK government was in on the charade. nt.

[Denzil_DC]

6. Gordon Brown can't possibly expect us to believe he's only just realised the Iraq War was a mistake

Britain has never known a more tortured public figure than Gordon Brown. Judging by a snippet from his new book, the torment continues in private.

In My Life, Our Times, Gordon does some anguished reflecting on the Iraq war. Almost a decade and a half after the event, and more than seven after he left Downing Street, it still plagues him. As it should.

Gordon cannot formally accept any guilt for what he did (or failed to do) to enable an indelible national disgrace. Owning any offence graver than not emoting enough for a reality TV electorate is too much for his brittle pride to bear.

...

Robin Cook had not read that {US intelligence} report when he resigned in protest against the war, and nor had the millions who marched against it. Brown asks himself “over and over again whether I could have made more of a difference before that fateful decision was taken”, he writes .... So far as British involvement, he could have made all the difference. He could have stopped it.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/gordon-brown-iraq-war-george-bush-saddam-hussein-weapons-mass-destruction-a8038806.html

[Matilda]

7. Millions of people all over the world -

literally, millions - didn't believe what the U.S. said, and marched against invading Iraq.

We were right, and they were wrong, but none of them (including little Johnny Howard, Bush's lapdog), have ever admitted they were wrong, let alone that they lied to us.

And I'm still not sure about he death of David Kelly - very convenient for the Blair government.

[sandensea]

8. Same here, Matilda. What a disappointment Tony Bliar turned out to be

I remember being in awe of him when I was in college - especially after the Bush mafia installed Dubya as president in 2000.

I remember thinking that Blair could be a formidable counterweight for the Bush regime's war drums (which already in early 2001 pointed straight to Iraq).

To see him line up behind Bush, almost literally trailing behind him like a poodle, was one of the great disappointments I've ever had as far as politics.

To be fair, I doubt Blair had much choice. The Bushes are thugs (to say nothing of Cheney!) and were more than capable of staging some "incident" in London if Blair didn't comply.

And yes, I don't think anyone anywhere in the world bought into the David Kelly "suicide." It couldn't have been more obvious.

"Y'all better do whut I say, hear?"

[Matilda]

9. I remember being so excited when Blair was elected.

I wished I could be in London to join in the celebrations.

I think his turnaround may have had a lot to do with Rupert Murdoch, who backed him. Murdoch's services don't come cheap. If you don't give him what he wants - and he was all for invading Iraq - he'll turn.

But Blair completely sold out Labour followers.