'We have been lied to about the war. I dared to speak the truth'

[cal04]

'We have been lied to about the war. I dared to speak the truth'
Walter Wolfgang:

My case is not important. But what happened to me when I was ejected from the Labour conference - simply for a one-word protest during Jack Straw's speech this week - tells us there is something deeply wrong with the culture of our Government under Tony Blair. We have been lied to about the war. But not only that. The party has been manipulated so that it has not been allowed to discuss the issue properly. Indeed, the Labour leaders have got so nervous of criticism that when I shouted the single word "nonsense"- when the Foreign Secretary sought to paper over the issue with smooth words - party officials sent the bouncers in. Even one word of criticism, it seems, was too much.

I had not intended to heckle, much less to make myself the centre of national attention and a debate about whether free speech still exists in the modern Labour Party. But Jack Straw spoke such nonsense - about Iraq, and about Kosovo - that it pushed me over the edge. I could have said a lot more than that one word. I could have said that we should not have marched into Iraq at all. I could have said we were lied to about the war. But one word was enough. Even so I could not believe that stewards were bearing down on me just because I dared to speak the truth.

Tony Blair is the worst leader the Labour Party has ever had, Ramsay Macdonald included. Mr Blair's instincts are basically those of a Tory. He picked up this cause from the Americans without even analysing it. I suspect that he is too theatrical even to realise that he is lying. There was no justification for the conflict in Iraq. It isn't only that there were no weapons of mass destruction. The war was simply unnecessary. It was done in support of the United States. It has brought us to a turning point in history. When I was a child living in Germany in the late 1930s, with relatives who died in the concentration camps, things were very frightening. But the policy of the American government today frightens me too. And so does the attitude of the British Government.

Power corrupts, it is said, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely. This is increasingly clear in our post-Cold War era. There is today only one superpower and therefore that superpower has to be restrained by the good advice of its allies. But what Tony Blair has done is the opposite. He has confirmed the prejudices of George Bush, making it much harder for a superpower to get out of its bad habits. We made a mistake by invading Iraq and we should recognise that. Now we have got to leave. Our continued presence in Iraq is part of the problem. It cannot be part of the solution. What has happened in Basra illustrates the mess we have got ourselves in. The situation is difficult enough without us making it more so. The best thing is to confine troops to barracks and having done so bring them home as soon as possible.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article316115.ece

[mike_c]

1. kicked and recommended....

EXCELLENT article.

[Hissyspit]

2. yup, kicked and nominated nt

[Gyre]

3. Very well stated.

I applaud Mr. Wolfgang whole-heartedly. If Britain were a meritocracy he would replace "the poodle" instantly.

Gyre

[Dhalgren]

4. kicked and recommended! Gods, how I wish we had leaders of

Walter Wolfgang's timber! Even our strongest leaders are so careful and shy about telling truth. Vive Walter Wolfgang!

[AuntiBush]

5. We're All Living the Same Nightmare, Now...

Culture of Corruption," spanned across the Ocean, all in the name of O.I.L.

Excellent post! k/n

[sweetheart]

6. ha! recommended

There it is. bLIAR has got to pay the piper.

[Peace Patriot]

7. Blessed at the truth-tellers! Thanks for this post!

We have a somewhat different problem in the U.S.--that our elections are now controlled by Bushite corporations, using SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code to tabulate the votes. Brits would probably find this outrageous, and can't believe that we have let it happen. It's a symptom of the control of the news here by war profiteering corporate news monopolies, that most Americans don't even know that we have lost our right to vote.

I have a lot of respect and love for my fellow and sister Americans. I think they overcame the most incredible brainwashing that any people has ever been subjected to--and opposed the Iraq war in great numbers BEFORE the invasion (58% opposed, Feb. '03, across the board in all polls) (It's over 70% today), and have also seen through all the other B.S. and oppose every major Bush policy, foreign and domestic, way up in the 60% to 70% range, and have done so for well over a year.

These are numbers that the war profiteering corporate news monopolies don't talk about much at all. These are their own polls--which they just ignore. The discrepancy between what the great majority of Americans want, and what the Bush Cartel is doing, has been cavernous for quite some time, and it is never, ever remarked upon by these news monopolies. It is additional evidence of election fraud, because the disagreement between the American people and the Bush Cartel has been going on for so long--since way before the election--and is so big.

But the bad guys have managed to keep this one hidden away--that the 2004 was a fraud, not just because the result was wrong, but also because the election SYSTEM itself has become non-transparent and non-verifiable. It no longer deserves the word "election."

The Brits' choices are curtailed in a different way, that I don't fully understand.

But one very big difference between us is the BBC. Our public radio and TV is a joke by comparison. Whatever one thinks of the BBC's efforts to be even-handed in its political presentations (and I grew disgusted with it in the midst of the Iraq invasion for being TOO even-handed, regarding an obviously unjust and illegal war, killing tens of thousands of Innocent people), still, it's remarkable that it even tries to be even-handed and representative, compared with OUR news media which has gone over to the Dark Side.

I also saw something of its dilemma in following the David Kelly story (the Blairites trying to shut the BBC down, basically--intense, overweaning pressure from them, and threats to the BBC's independence and to its supposedly independent funding).

The fact that the BBC tries to be objective--and also its broad-based international coverage--make it into a foundation for democracy. Like having honest judges on the bench. Or honest, transparent elections. A bottom line essential.

Brits should be very grateful for the BBC. (Do you know what? I am almost in tears here, just thinking about honest, even-handed journalism--someone looking after the common good, someone just doing a decent job, informing the people as well as they can. We have lost this!)

Not to say you shouldn't criticize it. Just that you should do everything in your power to preserve it and to maintain its independence--and to value it for what it is.

I cannot imagine the election thieves at Diebold and ES&S getting away with their crimes in England--BECAUSE of the BBC, because it would long ago have exposed the blatant unfairness and egregious non-transparency of it all!

Anyway, kudos to the BBC! And I wish we had some politicians who had had the balls to yell the word "Nonsense!" at OUR political conventions (like, when the Democrats started blathering about "counting every vote").

[mr blur]

10. We ARE proud of the Beeb.

It's always a sign that the government is fucking up when they start to bleat about the BBC's coverage of their deeds. Doesn't matter whether they're Left or Right, they always end up complaining about the Beeb. Which means that it's going its job. Bliar's recent reported comments that the BBC was showing "hatred" for the US and rejoicing at your problems was not just so much desperate bullshit but also a sign that he's in trouble. When he's long gone, I trust the Beeb will still be there reporting the nasty doings of his successor(s).

[mrfrapp]

11. BBC

Just last night, the News 24 anchor was discussing this Wolfgang issue and instead of discussing the pertinent issues he suggested the Wolfgang was "enjoying the attention" and dismissed the topic out of hand. That's not something to be proud of IMO.

Apart from News 24 though, the BBC is indeed a national treasure.

[bonito]

8. Kick n/t

[Stockholm]

9. Good man!

nominated