Fundamentally Remiss

Mr. Charles Kennedy (Ross, Skye and Lochaber) (LD): While the Prime Minister was correct to speak of the plans to bring home the remembrance memorial for the 178 personnel whom this country lost in Iraq—let us hope that that total is not added to over the next six months—was there not something fundamentally remiss about his statement? It made no reference whatever to the last memorial that we leave behind, of the vast number of innocent Iraqis—men, women and children, young and old alike—who perished during all this. Most shamefully in terms of history, the Americans and ourselves did not even bother to count the tally. Will the Prime Minister acknowledge that while those people may be lost to history, they are not lost in the hearts of their families and communities, and that that bitterness and legacy of hatred will now go on for generations? Is there anything arising from today’s statement that he and his American counterparts will endeavour to do to redress the grotesque oversight of no body count and no names?

The liar and war criminal that is, to our utter shame, the unelected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom replied in full blown, tractor statistics mode:

The Prime Minister: I acknowledge the sufferings of the Iraqi people. [No regret, no apology, no begging of pardon - merely acknowledgment, ed] It is precisely to protect and support the Iraqi people that we have been trying to provide better facilities, jobs and help [for hard working families, ed.] in the area of Basra where we have been most active. I think the right hon. Gentleman will find that, according to opinion surveys, [and selected groups whose minds were focused wonderfully at the barrel of a gun, ed.] the Iraqi people believe that the presence of British troops has made a difference to the quality of their lives. [No denying that; being dead in large numbers is qualitatively different from being alive, ed.] He must not forget the violence practised against the Iraqi people by Saddam Hussein, [and they must not forget the violence practised against them by the New Labour regime, ed.] and we must not forget that we were dealing with a dictatorship and that we now have a democracy. [whereas we once had a democracy and are now dealing with a dictatorship, ed.]

The Leader then turned to lying on other aspects of the leaving of Iraq.