Cablegate: Media Reaction Iraq - Call for Blair to Resign;

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

150519Z Sep 03

UNCLAS HARARE 001840

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS
IRAQ FOR SMITH, PINESS AND ROOKARD
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER
LONDON FOR GURNEY
PARIS FOR NEARY
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL KPAO KMDR ZI
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION IRAQ - CALL FOR BLAIR TO RESIGN;
HARARE

1. Under headline "Blair lacks moral fiber to remain in
office" the pro-government weekly "The Sunday
Mirror" dedicated its September 7 to calling on
British Prime Minister Tony Blair to resign over his
decision to commit Britain to military action in
Iraq. Excerpts:

2. "Does Tony Blair still have the legitimacy to remain
at Number 10 Downing Street following damning reports that
he `sexed' up the dossier on Iraq's Weapons of Mass
Destruction in order to justify war? His world now seems
to be crumbling around him as he continues to be dogged by
resignations of some key officials in his regime over the
same issue. . .To add to his woes, the Hutton Judicial
Inquiry into the mysterious death of government weapons
adviser David Kelly, heard evidence that during the run up
to the Gulf war Blair tried to persuade the British
Parliament that Saddam Hussein was a serious threat to
world peace. The issue is that Blair lied in order to
justify a war that subsequently killed more than ten
thousand people in Iraq, and the honorable thing for him to
do is to resign now."

SULLIVAN

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