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Ed Miliband’s stance on Iraq has been vindicated

March 15, 2013 9:06 am

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Labour leader Ed Miliband received further vindication of the stand he took in the run up to his election as leader of the party when he said that the Iraq War was wrong. YouGov have published new research that reveals a decade after the war, a majority of the country (some 53%) now believe that the war was wrong. They also believe that the war has increased the risk of a terrorist attack on the UK. This is a finding the Ed Miliband and the Labour Party need to be making much of as William Hague prepares to potentially flout international law, by arming rebel groups in Syria, thus throwing more petrol on the fire in that benighted country. The poll also reveals that a fifth of Britons believe that Tony Blair should be charged for war crimes. These results from YouGov come at a time when they open up all of their findings and polling over Iraq during the past decade.

For those of us in the Labour Party who opposed the war from the outset, this is confirmation of what we believed all along. For those who lost family, in Iraq, here and in the United States, the poll will probably mean little.

It won’t bring back the dead.

Ten years ago, and with the support of Ann Black, Christine Shawcroft and Dennis Skinner, we tried on three separate occasions at Labour’s NEC to make Tony Blair pick up the phone to the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, to ascertain whether the war would be legal under international law. On all three occasions we were either voted down or defeated through the use of procedural devices. There were of course a good many Labour MPs who opposed the war and tens of thousands of Labour Party members up and down the country who did as well. Many went on the 2 million strong march to Hyde Park, the biggest demonstration of its kind in a century. The Iraq War still carries with it painful memories, but we surely want those who opposed it and who left, back in the party.

We need also to ensure that Labour supporters and potential Labour voters know how Ed Miliband has recognised that Labour got it wrong back then.

Related posts:

  1. We need to learn the lessons of Iraq before we can move on
  2. Blair hints he would have invaded Iraq even without discredited WMD threat
  3. Ed Balls: The war in Iraq was wrong
  4. Iraq, Genocide and the Kurds
  5. Labour hasn’t learned the right lessons from Iraq
  • Robin Hay

    The idea of ringing up the Secretary General of the UN to ask if an action is legal under international law is a new one. Clearly Tony Blair didn’t think it was a great idea since he was getting advice from lawyers that the action in Iraq was legal.
    Anyone know where this strange idea that the Secretary General is a legal authority came from?

  • embrewer

    well, that’s nice and everything, but Milliband wasn’t in Parliament in 2003 to vote for or against the war, so it was easy for him to come along 7 years later and says ‘it was wrong.’ Guess how he’d have voted at the time? That’s the reality of power.

  • Daniel Speight

    Does that mean we can hope to see in the next manifesto a demand that Blair is sent to the World Court? It’s got to be worth a few extra votes.

  • http://twitter.com/waterwards dave stone

    “William Hague prepares to potentially flout international law, by arming rebel groups in Syria, thus throwing more petrol on the fire in that benighted country.”

    Really made my day to hear Danny Alexander arguing against arming the opposition in Syria on the radio this morning. This was a great call by Labour and puts clear blue water between the Tories and Labour on what looks to be an utterly disastrous Tory foreign policy initiative.

    • Daniel Speight

      It’s a shame Dave, but as with Libya anyone asking for a little more thought on the subject should expect disapproval from some of those who are not ever going to be asked to pay the human cost.

  • Brumanuensis

    Gratifying though the opinion polls are, I’m not quite sure how this translates into a boost for Ed. I doubt the public is basing their decisions on the Iraq War, for better or worse.

    If he could stand up over the ongoing waste of time and lives that is the Afghan War, that would be more impressive.

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