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 http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_765483.html?menu=news.latestheadlines

Execution row: Government 'regrets' distress

The Government has expressed "regret" for any distress caused by stating that two British soldiers killed in Iraq had been "executed" by Iraqi soldiers.

The Prime Minister said Thursday night the men had been executed and condemned pictures of the bodies that were broadcast on al-Jazeera television.

But the family of Sapper Luke Allsopp reacted angrily to the Prime Minister's suggestion he and Staff Sergeant Simon Cullingworth had been killed by Saddam's henchmen after an ambush on their vehicle in southern Iraq.

And speaking at a news conference in London, Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram expressed regret for any distress that had been caused.

He said Mr Blair's remarks were placed in the "context of what we know about the depravity of Saddam Hussein's regime".

"Given the information available to us, it did indicate that those two soldiers may have been executed.

"So if there's hurt from the language used then we regret that, clearly, that was never the intention.

"But it was to point up ... our knowledge about the depravity, the brutality of that regime."


Story filed: 15:42 Friday 28th March 2003

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the medialens message board
 http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/15249.html

TONY'S 'PRESIDENTIAL' PROCLAMATIONS ON WAR
Posted by Jim Scott on March 28, 2003, 4:15 pm
62.253.64.4

The Editor,
The Guardian.

Sir,

TONY'S 'PRESIDENTIAL' PROCLAMATIONS ON WAR

So war by ‘presidential’ proclamation continues! Your front page photograph of Bush and Blair at Camp David and caption stating: ‘The two men pledged to fight for as long as it takes to get rid of Saddam’ (28 March) - dispenses with even the pretence of legitimacy for war. For that is a determination for regime change, for which there is no UN resolution, while little evidence has yet emerged of ‘weapons of mass destruction’ - which is their only tendentious justification for war. And the cost for such personal proclamations? £3 billion to the UK taxpayers, and a great deal more for the American ones.

It is time that Tony Blair realised that his presidential-style proclamations have the opposite effect of his intentions. They are creating support for the ‘Stop the War’ movement. They are increasingly grounds for public disbelief, lacking adequate supporting evidence, as in the cases of the Attorney General’s ruling on the legality of war, and his, and his ministers’, insistence that the war has nothing to do with oil. Much of the public has evidence to the contrary, and solemn declarations that oil reserves will be protected for the Iraqis’ use, cut no ice - without a contract, as eloquently expressed in the three-hour After Hours BBC4 programme on 22 February.

The same applies to the Road Map for the Middle East. Fine words but very suspicious timing. They could even stiffen Bush’s sinews towards Israel - or maybe not. But they won’t convince the public without some proof of commitment - and would have been much more effective before Bush and Blair embarked on war - or rather, instead of it.

Yours faithfully,

Jim Scott

C/c Tony Blair, Kate Hoey, Charles Kennedy

Link:  http://save-our-world.org.uk
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