Commenting on Tony Blair’s former Director of Communication Alastair Campbell’s evidence to the Iraq Inquiry, former Liberal Democrat Leader and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee Sir Menzies Campbell said:

“Alastair Campbell’s evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry was only the hors d’oeuvre, the main dish will be Tony Blair on Friday 29th January.

“It is clear now what Mr Blair’s line is going to be – there is nothing for which to apologise and military action against Saddam was the right thing to do!

“The only thing wrong with that position is that it ignores the fact that the action was illegal under the UN Charter, that the resolutions of the United Nations did not authorise the use of military force and that the inspectors looking for weapons of mass destruction did not get the chance to finish their job. If they had been allowed to do so then both President Bush and Prime Minister Blair would have known the truth – that there were no such weapons!

“The result of the illegal Iraq war was to cause incalculable instability in the Middle East, to provoke terrorist activity, to damage reputation significantly, and to cause the death of a huge but unknown number of Iraqi citizens.

“On the 29th January we shall see whether Mr Blair still thinks that it was the right thing to do.”

Commenting on the Prime Minister’s speech today about Afghanistan, Former Leader of the Liberal Democrats and Member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Sir Menzies Campbell MP said:

“The weakness in the Prime Minister’s case is that it depends not only on President Karzai’s good faith but also his competence, neither of which have been much in evidence in recent times.

“To succeed with Karzai, the allies will have to be willing to “hold his feet to the fire”. The position is most certainly not helped by President Obama’s long deliberations on a new strategy. He has left a vacuum at a time when decisiveness is essential.”

Senior Liberal Democrat MP Sir Menzies Campbell questioned Gordon Brown today during the Prime Minister’s statement on Afghanistan and Pakistan in the House of Commons.

Sir Menzies asked:

“After eight years, what confidence can we have that the strategy announced today by the Prime Minister has any better chance of success than the strategies previously announced by this Government?”

In his response the Prime Minister said that unless you have a strategy for Afghan people taking responsibility for their own affairs “you cannot see a way through this that doesn’t involve British or other troops there for many, many years”.

He added, “The importance of what we are saying today is supported by NATO itself. It is very much in-tune to what General McChrystal is saying. He has reconsidered the American strategy, he says he is moving from counter-terrorism to counter-insurgency and focusing on people and winning their support rather than alienating them. I believe it is the right strategy as it gives us a way forward.”

Commenting after his exchange with the Prime Minister, Sir Menzies said:

“The Prime Minister did not answer my question. I have lost count of the number of occasions I have heard the “Launch” in the House of Commons of new strategy. The fact that eight years on yet another strategy is required tells you all you need to know.

“Barack Obama is engaged in a wholesale review of US strategy and such is the subordinate position of the United Kingdom that we will have to conform to his ultimate strategic decisions. It’s not what General McChrystal says that counts but what Barack Obama decides.”

ENDS

Sir Menzies Campbell has today tabled a parliamentary motion and written to the Foreign Secretary to urge the British Government to protect equal rights for women in Afghanistan. The President of Afghanistan is reported to have introduced laws which would effectively legalise rape within marriage and prevent women entering employment or accessing education and health services without their husbands agreement.

Commenting on the need for urgent action, Sir Menzies said:

“Many people in Britain supported British troops being sent to Afghanistan to remove the Taliban under whose brutal regime millions of people – women in particular – suffered extreme hardship.

“The progress made since the removal of the Taliban is now being threatened. The President of Afghanistan is prepared to introduce legislation which would remove equal rights for women – basic freedoms such as being able to go to a doctor without first having to get her husbands approval or having recourse to the law if she has been forced by her husband to have sexual relations against her will.

“This is a step backwards for Afghanistan. If the President of Afghanistan is going to introduce legislation which evokes memories of the Taliban, we have to ask – what are our soldiers fighting there for?”

Sir Menzies Campbell’s Early Day Motion tabled on the 2nd April 2009:

“That this House notes with concern reports that the President of Afghanistan supports the introduction of legislation designed to restrict the rights and freedoms of Afghan women, including articles which would legalise rape within marriage and end a woman’s freedom to enter employment or access education and health services without her husband’s permission, despite the Afghan constitution and a number of the international treaties Afghanistan has signed guaranteeing equal rights for women; and urges the British Government unequivocally to convey its opposition to the introduction of such repressive laws given the support the United Kingdom and British troops in particular are giving the Afghan government in its struggle against the Taliban, an organisation synonymous with the repression of women.”

Commenting on the current conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Sir Menzies Campbell MP said:

“This latest situation in Gaza and the West Bank is extremely alarming yet not entirely surprising. The aggression between the two sides has been raging for the past 60 years and there is no clear end in sight.

“The lack of decisive action from Governments and International Organisations such as the UN has only acted to compound the issue and America’s uncritical attitude towards Israel’s actions has not helped.

“Israel’s overwhelming use of force which results in the tragic loss of civilian lives is acting to radicalise opinion among Palestinians and indeed throughout the Arab world.

“Israel clearly has the right to defend itself from attack, but bombing alone has never resulted in the defeat of a terrorist organisation.

“By no means should Hamas escape condemnation and blame, but the only way to resolve these matters is through diplomacy and negotiation.”

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