Reaction to Zarqawi’s death

I don't have anything to add but thought the quotes tell a story all of their own…

US PRESIDENT GEORGE W BUSH

"The ideology of terror has lost one of its most visible and aggressive leaders. Zarqawi's death is a severe blow to al-Qaeda. It's a victory in the global war on terror…

"The difficult and necessary mission in Iraq continues. We can expect the terrorists and insurgents to carry on without him. We can expect the sectarian violence to continue."

UK PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR

"The death of Zarqawi is a strike against al-Qaeda in Iraq and therefore a strike against al-Qaeda everywhere but we should have no illusions.

"We know that they will continue to kill, we know that there are many, many obstacles to overcome."

STATEMENT ON WEBSITE USED BY AL-QAEDA

"We announce the martyr death of our sheikh, fighter Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

"[His death will] only reinforce our determination to pursue jihad so that the word of Allah gains the upper hand."

STAN BIGLEY, BROTHER OF KEN BIGLEY, BRITISH HOSTAGE KILLED IN IRAQ

"I'm glad he's off the face of the earth, not just for my brother but for all the people he has killed.

"Ken was just one of a multitude of innocent people killed by that man. He was a monster."

MICHAEL BERG, FATHER OF NICK BERG, A US CITIZEN SAID TO HAVE BEEN KILLED BY ZARQAWI IN IRAQ

"I have no sense of relief, just sadness that another human being had to die.

"As the poet John Donne said, any man's death diminishes me. It doesn't bring my son back, and this will just bring a new cycle of revenge killings." Link

Amnesty urges tougher arms laws

With Amnesty International demanding more controls on arms trading David Cameron has seen an opportunity. Jumping at the chance to make headlines and ply pressure on the governement he said:

"Such a Treaty would be in the British national interest. The British arms industry already plays by the rules, operating to some of the highest standards in the world. An International Arms Trade Treaty would help force less scrupulous countries to raise their game, and stop selling arms to unsuitable regimes. Britain already has its house in order; it is time now for other countries to follow suit." Link

Have the Tories really changed their tune? It wasn't that long ago their modus operandi was to fund "unsuitable regimes" (they still have links via the Carlyle Group which former PM John Major is Chairman of Carlyle Europe to arming various "regimes")! See here for more on how we made money from our good friend Saddam.

John Reid wants to kill people…

…without a legal framework based on something called sanity, or so it appears. The following quote from his speech made me laugh:

I want to stress that the UN, and adherence to international law, remain at the heart of British foreign and defence policy. It is as much to strengthen these institutions and to ensure their continued relevance that I think we need to have this debate. Link

Thankfully others have noticed one glaring problem with the concept of pre-emptive strike:

Iran's leadership would be legally justified in launching pre-emptive military action against the United States to defend itself against an imminent US attack on its nuclear facilties.

Confidential advice proffered in an internal Tehran justice ministry memo? The rantings of a crazy Islamist blogger? No in both cases. The suggestion came in a speech by John Reid, the British defence secretary, delivered in London on Monday.

But Mr Reid appeared to fail to appreciate that "international" law, by definition, is universally applicable and supplies protections and redress for all - and not for just the self-styled "good guys". And this is where he got into difficulty. Link

 

 

 

“After three years, after 150,000 dead, why I was wrong about Iraq”

I suppose, better late than never…

US launches major offensive against Sunni insurgents

Curious timing given the upcoming worldwide demonstrations this weekend…

More than 50 US warplanes were today involved in the biggest air offensive launched by the Americans in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, the US military said.

A huge air and land offensive was launched this morning against insurgents in an area north-east of the volatile town of Samarra, which is 60 miles north of Baghdad.

The US military, which announced details of the operation late this afternoon, said some 1,500 Iraqi and US troops and 200 tactical vehicles were involved in Operation Swarmer, which it said would last several days. Link