Andrew Smith talks at Amnesty meeting
Paul | 30.08.2003 13:49 | Oxford
Last night Andrew Smith MP talked to Oxford Amnesty meeting and avoided answering any question directly or giving his opinion on anything that might be even a little controversial e.g. When asked if India should be on the security council he said even when pressed to voice an opinion, 'That is a question'. Eventually he admitted he did not have the knowledge to have an opinion. Great for a cabinet minister.
In the meeting Andrew Smith took every opportunity to waffle and avoid sraight answers. This is understandable as he seemed worrying ignorant and just gave the government line while avoiding giving his opinion. He passes on constituents questions without voicing an opinion.
When questioned about the war on Iraq he talked a lot about the human rights abuses in Saddam Husain's Iraq. When pressed he mentioned the UN resolutions and was able to name resolution 1441 as a reason but did not seem aware that Britain's ambassador assured that the resolution had no 'automaticity'. He could not name resolution 678 but claimed it gave authority for the war. It did not. it was only to force Iraq out of Kuwait and the disarmament of Iraq was only discussed four months later.
It was pointed out to him that people at that very time were being killed and human right abuses being perpitrated in Acheh, Indonesia using our weapons and that a third of the population were killed in East Timor with the help of our weapons. In reply he just said that arms sales have been more transparent. He did not answer why we continue to have an arms industry seeing as it only employs about 30,000 people and is subsidised by tax payers to the tune of 14,000 pound per person. It does not make us a lot of money or employ many people so why do we have it? Not the sort of question Andrew Smith would answer even if he could.
I could go on but you get the idea. Unfortunately it is indicative of Tony Blair's Britain that polititions that are yes men, are ignorant of many important facts, avoid expressing strong opinions and making a stance get to this position.
When questioned about the war on Iraq he talked a lot about the human rights abuses in Saddam Husain's Iraq. When pressed he mentioned the UN resolutions and was able to name resolution 1441 as a reason but did not seem aware that Britain's ambassador assured that the resolution had no 'automaticity'. He could not name resolution 678 but claimed it gave authority for the war. It did not. it was only to force Iraq out of Kuwait and the disarmament of Iraq was only discussed four months later.
It was pointed out to him that people at that very time were being killed and human right abuses being perpitrated in Acheh, Indonesia using our weapons and that a third of the population were killed in East Timor with the help of our weapons. In reply he just said that arms sales have been more transparent. He did not answer why we continue to have an arms industry seeing as it only employs about 30,000 people and is subsidised by tax payers to the tune of 14,000 pound per person. It does not make us a lot of money or employ many people so why do we have it? Not the sort of question Andrew Smith would answer even if he could.
I could go on but you get the idea. Unfortunately it is indicative of Tony Blair's Britain that polititions that are yes men, are ignorant of many important facts, avoid expressing strong opinions and making a stance get to this position.
Paul
Comments
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Pigscum Andrew Smith MP
03.09.2003 12:11
?
ram
I remember
06.09.2003 03:51
I remember watching them drag out bodies so charred, you couldn’t tell they were human. I remember frantic people, running from corpse to corpse, trying to identify a loved-one… I remember seeing Iraqi aid workers, cleaning out the shelter, fainting with the unbearable scenes inside. I remember the whole area reeked with the smell of burnt flesh for weeks and weeks after.
I remember visiting the shelter, years later, to pay my respects to the 400+ people who died a horrible death during the small hours of the morning and seeing the ghostly outlines of humans plastered on the walls and ceilings.
I remember a family friend who lost his wife, his five-year-old daughter, his two-year-old son and his mind on February 13.
I remember the day the Pentagon, after making various excuses, claimed it had been a ‘mistake’.
I remember 13 years of sanctions, backed firmly by the US and UK, in the name of WMD nobody ever found. Sanctions so rigid, we had basic necessities, like medicine, on waiting lists for months and months, before they were refused. I remember chemicals like chlorine, necessary for water purification, being scrutinized and delayed at the expense of millions of people.
I remember having to ask aid workers, and visiting activists, to ‘please bring a book’ because publishing companies refused to sell scientific books and journals to Iraq. I remember having to ‘share’ books with other students in college, in an attempt to make the most of the limited resources.
I remember wasted, little bodies in huge hospital beds- dying of hunger and of disease; diseases that could easily be treated with medications that were ‘forbidden’. I remember parents with drawn faces peering anxiously into doctors’ eyes, searching for a miracle.
I remember the depleted uranium. How many have heard of depleted uranium? Those are household words to Iraqi people. The depleted uranium weapons used in 1991 (and possibly this time too) have resulted in a damaged environment and an astronomical rise in the cancer rate in Iraq. I remember seeing babies born with a single eye, 3 legs or no face- a result of DU poisoning.
I remember dozens of dead in the ‘no fly zones’, bombed by British and American planes claiming to ‘protect’ the north and south of Iraq. I remember the mother, living on the outskirts of Mosul, who lost her husband and 5 kids when an American plane bombed the father and his sons in the middle of a field of peaceful, grazing sheep.
Now I am liberated.
Madeline Albright
Sanstions justified?
07.09.2003 12:07
Nanna nanna naH! nah! we beat you in the boat race!!
Emeritius Prof P.I.G Ramsbottom
Aristocratic Widsom
09.09.2003 00:39
What did you both expect?
Lady Elena Ducie