The final judgement of the Iraq Survey Group was explicit. There were no Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq and Saddam Hussein was less of a threat in 2003 than in 1998. Time and again, Charles Duelfer, Head of the Survey Group, said there is “no evidence” that Iraq posed the threat that George Bush, Tony Blair and John Howard claimed it was. 1,200 Weapons Inspectors never found any WMD in Iraq and said so before the 2001 pre-emptive invasion. Iraq had disarmed itself. Bush et al ignored the 1,200 Weapons Inspectors.

Bush et al have since claimed that the pre-emptive invasion is justified because Hussein “intended” to make WMDs and not that he actually had them. Since when is someone’s ‘intention’ a justification for a pre-emptive attack? To date, at least 13,000 Iraqi civilians and 1,000 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq (and an uncounted number wounded) because of an ‘intention’. Imagine the New Zealand armed forces slaughtering 13,000 unarmed people because the government suspected them of ‘intent’ to do wrong.

The truth is Bush et al attacked Iraq for no justifiable reason. Just days ago, Donald Rumsfeld admitted that there is no “hard evidence” linking Hussein to Al-Qa'ida and, if you recall, America attacked Afghanistan, purportedly the home of Al-Qa'ida, on 7 October 2001. Osama bin Laden has not been apprehended in the ensuing three years and Bush has publicly stated that he’s not interested in doing so.

Meanwhile, Iraqi citizens are slaughtered daily by American, British and Australian troops who are doing so under orders; orders predicated on a monstrous lie. Where is the political outrage? It is all very well claiming that it is ‘undiplomatic’ to censure Bush et al as to do so may endanger trade agreements, but no New Zealander I know would want to do business with lying thugs.

Where is the apology from Bush et al for intentionally misleading us all? I call on the New Zealand Government to demand such a public apology from President of the United States of America George Bush, Prime Minister of Great Britain Tony Blair and Prime Minister of Australia John Howard. It is way past time for New Zealand's elected representatives to stand united and demand the truth from Bush et al and they should not settle for 'spin'.

Yours,

Dave Taggart.

© Scoop Media

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