Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Se\u00e1n Crowe TD, responding to the Chilcot Report into the Iraq War, has stated that the Westminster political establishment must accept that it is culpable for the carnage that their illegal war caused.<\/p>\n
Deputy Crowe said:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a long seven year wait for the Chilcot report.<\/p>\n
\u201cBritain and the USA\u2019s illegal invasion of Iraq began on 20 March 2003. It was sold to the public on the back of lies that were padded with contrived\u00a0and fake intelligence that weapons of mass destruction were being held by Saddam Hussein.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe carnage, death, and destruction that this invasion is responsible for is impossible to accurately state, but according to the latest figures from the Iraq Body Count organisation, the number of civilians killed by violence since the invasion is between 160,400 and 179,312. This is an absolute minimum figure with the real figure\u00a0estimated to be far higher, including the millions who have been forced to flee from their homes and become refugees.<\/p>\n
\u201cTony Blair once famously said that he felt the hand of history on his shoulder. It is eminently clear that the hand of history is now pointing directly\u00a0at the Westminster political establishment who are culpable\u00a0for the carnage that they have inflicted on Iraq and its people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember marching with Sinn F\u00e9in in the 100,000 strong protest march on the streets of Dublin to protest this impending illegal invasion of Iraq. Sinn F\u00e9in was against this conflict from the beginning. We called on the Irish Government to oppose it and play no act or part in it.<\/p>\n
\u201cSadly the Irish Government didn\u2019t listen to the popular and just demands of the Irish people and instead help to facilitate\u00a0this war by allowing Shannon airport to become a staging post for the US military\u2019s operations in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
\u201cTony Blair had a personal and legal responsibility as the Prime Minister of Britain at the time of the illegal invasion of Iraq. The Chilcot Report makes clear that the former Prime Minister led Britain into the Iraq War before \u2018peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted\u2019 and military action was \u2018not a last resort\u2019 at the time, among other damning findings.<\/p>\n
\u201cTony Blair\u00a0should be held accountable for the carnage, death and destruction that his lies and those of his administration facilitated.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Se\u00e1n Crowe TD, responding to the Chilcot Report into the Iraq War, has stated that the Westminster political establishment must accept that it is culpable for the carnage that their illegal war caused. Deputy Crowe said: \u201cIt has been a long seven year wait for the Chilcot report. \u201cBritain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107,186,123,120,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-britain","category-british-government","category-international-law","category-iraq","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2700"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2703,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2700\/revisions\/2703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}