Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Hidden Article

This posting has been hidden because it breaches the Indymedia UK (IMC UK) Editorial Guidelines.

IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

Robin Cook remembered

michaeld | 04.08.2006 12:55 | Anti-militarism

This weekend marks the first anniversary of the death of Robin Cook MP.The President of the Irish Labour Party, Michael D.Higgins TD describes Robin as "a politician of the highest honour, who at all times stood for fairness, accountability and truth".



Robin was, at the time of his death, the leader of the House of Commons. In this post he initiated many far-reaching reforms in the way in which business is done at Westminster. He was an avid supporter of the House of Commons, and of the history of Westminster, and went to great efforts to modernise the work of the institution, often while receiving less than total support from his Parliamentary party.

He was spokesperson for Labour in a number of areas, both in government and opposition, during the course of his distinguished career at Westminster. Many will remember his dignified resignation of his cabinet post at the time of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Previously, of course, he had been Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the first Blair government.

He was one of the cabinet's chief opponents of military action against Iraq, and on St Patrick’s Day, 2003, resigned from the Cabinet, saying that he could not accept “collective responsibility for the decision to commit Britain to military action in Iraq without international agreement or domestic support." It is fair to say that, both in resigning on the eve of the invasion and in his conduct that followed he restored a sense of principle, and grace, to a part of the political world that had lost its moral compass.
The logic which he used in that speech was impressive for its lucidity and clearness. The following is a sample of its strength and depth:
"Ironically, it is only because Iraq's military forces are so weak that we can even contemplate its invasion. Some advocates of conflict claim that Saddam's forces are so weak, so demoralised and so badly equipped that the war will be over in a few days.
We cannot base our military strategy on the assumption that Saddam is weak and at the same time justify pre-emptive action on the claim that he is a threat.
Iraq probably has no weapons of mass destruction in the commonly understood sense of the term - namely a credible device capable of being delivered against a strategic city target.
It probably still has biological toxins and battlefield chemical munitions, but it has had them since the 1980s when US companies sold Saddam anthrax agents and the then British Government approved chemical and munitions factories.
Why is it now so urgent that we should take military action to disarm a military capacity that has been there for 20 years, and which we helped to create?
Why is it necessary to resort to war this week, while Saddam's ambition to complete his weapons programme is blocked by the presence of UN inspectors? "

The line of reasoning which he employed was noteworthy for its foresight. He had seen the same intelligence files as others, but did not believe that this evidence stood up. He was concerned that the evidence of Saddam possessing weapons of mass destruction was flimsy. He worried that Blair was rushing into a campaign in a desperate attempt to show loyalty to the US, without giving heed to the consequences. He warned Blair that by going to war, he would inflame the Middle East, and that a terrible legacy would be created.

Robin Cook was thoroughly vindicated in relation to these matters. Blair’s war in Iraq, his fifth in six years, was one of the great catastrophes of post-second world war British and international politics. If the prime minister had listened more, and disdained less, a man of such formidable intellect, much of the tragedy which has engulfed the Middle East ever since might have been avoided.

The resignation speech which he gave was one of the strongest in modern British political history and was received with an unprecedented show of support by his fellow MPs. According to the obituary in The Economist at the time, this was the only speech ever to receive a standing ovation in the history of the House of Commons.

The decision to resign his post was entirely consistent with the absolute integrity which Robin displayed at all times during his political career. He was a politician of the highest honour, who at all times stood for fairness, accountability and truth.

I had the very good fortune to meet Robin on a number of occasions and on each of those was impressed with his humanity, his humour, and his intellect. The last occasion upon which we met was at the Irish Labour Party’s National Conference in 2004, to which Robin had been invited and at which I had the privilege of introducing him.

The world is a lesser, and sadder place for the loss of intellects and personalities such as Robin Cook. One year on, we mourn, we remember, and hope for more men and women of his moral, intellectual and political strength.
-

michaeld
- Homepage: http://www.labour.ie/campaigns/listing/20060727132311.html

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. Robins regret — sw1a 0aa
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech