Blair's champion draws angry response ... (debate vs Fisk)

[bin.dare]

20 January 2005

The Blair government received a drubbing last night during a lively public debate on the aftermath of the Iraq war organised by The Independent, 11 days before elections in the country.
More than 750 people crowded into a hall tucked behind Westminster Abbey to hear the debate. It asked: "Have critics of the Iraq war been vindicated?"
...

Fisk may have surprised some in the audience when he said: "The critics of the war have not been vindicated. I never believed the British and American governments would lie to us so much. I never believed that the insurrection would so quickly gather pace and be so disastrous to the occupation, and I never believed the occupation would be so flawed and so brutal."
...

The exchanges became even more heated as questions from the floor dealt with Mr Blair's "hypocrisy" in dealing with the Sharon government in Israel, and the imprisonment of terror suspects without trial. Mr Joyce was subjected to cries of "shame on you" from the gallery as he attempted to defend the government's policy.

An anti-war protester who stood up to shout "stop killing our kids" resisted being escorted from the hall. The audience applauded when he was allowed to remain in his seat.





http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=602626

[rodeodance]

1. good for this meeting and thanks for the post

[donheld]

2. Robert Fisk

has been one of my heros the last few years.

[bin.dare]

3. one of the few consistent anti-war voices reporting ...

... directly from Iraq. A great man and a great journalist.

Did you catch that he flew back from Baghdad for the debate?