IS BLAIR RATTLED?
Blair calls on Iraq for support in Sedgefield
On Friday 29 April Blair called on Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, on a visit to London, to appeal directly to the people of Sedgefield to vote Labour. Local newspapers carried the following appeal from Barham Saleh:
"I am a father and I understand the anguish and the pain any parent would feel for the loss of his or her son or daughter to the conflict in a foreign land. I hope that they recognise that the sacrifice was not in vain. It gave the people of Iraq the greatest gift of all - that is, freedom. Britain should be proud for the role it played. Tony Blair is a champion of freedom and should be recognised for his leadership and his vision in Iraq. I trust Tony Blair because he was there for us and he has delivered on what he has said all along.
"Should the (question of) trust be on Iraq, I think it would be extremely unfair for people not to recognise the leadership and the vision that Tony Blair has. Tony Blair stood by human rights and the plight of the Iraqi people. He has helped make the world a better place. I do not want my people's cause for freedom used as a political football."
Reg keys said in reply:
'Tony Blair may seem like a hero and a champion of human rights from where you are, and, for those Iraqis who have survived and done well out of the war, I can see why. But from here he looks like a tarnished adventurer who has attacked human rights in his own country and sent the troops in his care, including my son Tom, abroad as mercenaries to help his friend George Bush to steal oil from your people.
'I can assure Mr Barham Saleh that I do not want the Iraqi peoples' struggle for freedom to be used as a political football either. There is no way that the value of freedom can be measured - no-one can say freedom was not worth the life of my son, the lives of 84 other British troops, of more than 1000 coalition troops, of an estimated 100,000 Iraqis, and I would not wish to do so.
'But we must be governed by the rule of law or the freedom of no country is guaranteed. And that law has been flouted by Tony Blair in many different ways. I would ask Barham Saleh if democracy can really be achieved by force, if free elections can really be held in an occupied country, and if the Iraqi people are really free to own their own resources, eg oil.
'And I will ask him to look at what this war has cost the world, his country and my country too. Firstly, the damage done to international law means that strong countries can now invade weak with impunity, and behave as some US and British forces have behaved in the prisons and torture chambers of Iraq. His own beautiful country is contaminated with thousands of tons of depleted uranium, the legacy of which will last for generations and is already being shown in increased birth defects and childhood leukaemia. And the damage done to human rights in my own country - eg the partial suspension of the ancient right of Magna Carta - is all part of the price we have all paid for this war.'
Reg Keys added:
'It is interesting that Blair, who has not visited Sedgefield since his nomination as candidate, should feel the need to call on support from Iraq in his campaign against my candidacy in Sedgefield.'
ENDS
Contact
Jane Mayes
07748 640 183
Note to editors: Barham Saleh's appeal was published in the Newcastle papers Northern Echo and The Journal on Sat 30 April and possibly elsewhere.
- ©Reg Keys, 2005 -
