Downing Street Says

Asked what the Prime Minister’s response was to Prime Minister Berlusconi’s remarks last night about withdrawing Italian troops from Iraq, the PMOS said that what had become clear was that Prime Minister Berlusconi’s remarks had been misinterpreted. What Mr Berlusconi had been saying was no different from what we had been saying, which was that the future of the multinational force would depend on the capability of the Iraqi forces, and any withdrawal would be as a consequence of that increasing capability. The pace and timing of that withdrawal would be determined by the increase in Iraqiisation.

Asked to clarify what Prime Minister Berlusconi had said, the PMOS quoted Prime Minister Berlusconi as saying "it will depend on the ability of the Iraqi Government to provide adequate security structures", which was precisely the same position as ours.

4 Comments »

Liars

you lied in word, in deed, & by omission:
you blamed Saddam for things that you had done
& failed to do – the Shia insurrection,
incited, left to founder – sorry son!
with VX, sarin, stuff for nuclear fission –
you armed him, supplied anthrax by the ton,
you egged him on to fight Iran, then ditched him…
& now you cannot find the smoking gun?
too long past their use-by-date. oh? fine!
(don\x92t bother to say sorry: just resign.)

you lied about \x93eviction\x94 of inspectors
whom the UN \x93withdrew\x94 – you wanna bet?
phials, anti-poison-gas injectors,
antidotes to dangers to be met,
& posters: how to cope with radiation
were hailed as \x93proof of clear & present threat.\x94
duty-bound to free a captive nation?
ever think of rescuing Tibet?
oh. it\x92s unfair to hold you to that line…
don\x92t bother to say sorry: just resign.

there\x92s some bad bastards, but it\x92s no use fretting –
ex-Soviets Belarus & Kazakhstan.
our hatred of dictators could not threaten
Suharto, Burma, Saudi, Pakistan.
adjust the odds, it makes for safer betting;
where standards are too high, let down the bar.
for Chile we strained the rules, left Pinochet in;
Somoza, Marcos, Franco, Salazar,
we backed; who claimed their right to rule divine,
& never did say sorry, nor resign.

Afghanistan: \x93we\x92ll never walk away!\x94
you left them unexploded cluster bombs
like food parcels – they go off every day! –
to add to 20 million Russian mines.
& all the billions that you said you\x92d pay
keeps war lords ruling as in former times.
the bulk of it is mis-spent, gone astray,
they don\x92t add up, the economic sums.
damage limitation? not this time.
don\x92t bother to say sorry: just resign.

you lied about the poison factories;
lied about their nuclear capacity;
on links to Al Qaida came a freeze –
Bush yes, Blair no (gulp gulp); it took audacity…
45 minute standby – there\x92s a wheeze –
imminent threat! in coping with this facet we
might have bypassed other forgeries –
uranium from Niger? sheer mendacity!
you\x92ve been found out, you\x92ve overstayed your time,
so do what Denis Healy said: resign

you lied. you said it wasn\x92t about oil.
you bellowed this until your face turned blue.
& yet, available to any literate child:
what Goldstein said to Bush\x92s cronies whom,
cringe-making, blatant, we will not imbroil
after the war the inverse will be true.
I quote the Wall Street Journal – your blood boil?
mine does. we all could read it! so could you.
maybe you did; it chanced to slip your mind?
don\x92t even promise. do it now. resign.
Comment by Sydney Bernard Smith — 20 Mar 2005 on 7:57 am | Link
Simple historical truth:

December 1998: Blair – Having Bombed Baghdad, again! – Speaks from the Doorway of No. 10.

\x93The world\x92s a safer place tonight!\x94
– with babies in their graves,
& some of them in more than one…
Resourceful paleface braves
fire off their missiles, & recoil
at twice the speed of light
to wash their hands. They\x92ve made the world
a safer place tonight.
Comment by Sydney Bernard Smith — 20 Mar 2005 on 8:13 am | Link
Amen.
Comment by PapaLazzzaru — 21 Mar 2005 on 7:04 am | Link
The problem that never seems to go away
http://savirimuthu.typepad.com/the_accidental_voter/2005/03/candour_propaga.html
Comment by Joe — 21 Mar 2005 on 7:28 pm | Link

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» Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Iraq

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