The Hindu : International : Blair skips Iraq debate in House

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Friday, Jan 26, 2007
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International

International

Blair skips Iraq debate in House

Hasan Suroor

MPs call for inquiry into invasion

LONDON: British Prime Minister Tony Blair was called a "coward" by MPs after he skipped a major Commons debate on Wednesday during which his Iraq policy was torn to shreds amid calls for an inquiry into the conduct of the invasion and a firm time-table for withdrawal of British troops.

Anti-war protesters, including families of soldiers killed in Iraq, picketed the venue of a business conference, which Mr. Blair addressed after slipping out of the Commons, minutes before the debate was to begin.

Cross-party attack

Demonstrators, carrying placards that said "Time to go'', accused Mr. Blair of "ducking'' a debate on his handling of Iraq. "He doesn't want to listen, he wants no debate, no questions,'' said the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq.

In the Commons, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett had a difficult time fielding the cross-party attack with one senior Labour MP and a former Minister, Frank Dobson, warning of more "chaos'', "misery'' and "death'' in Iraq.

There was more embarrassment for the Government after the BBC reported that Americans were opposed to British plans to reduce its troops in Basra in the spring. The U.S. Ambassador in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, told the BBC that he wanted Britain to retain the current levels of its troops.

"We would like to coordinate and for us to have a joint plan and we are talking about this. It is clear out preference would be the longer we stay together here the better,'' he said after Ms. Beckett told MPs that she was "confident'' that British forces would be in a position to hand over the security of Basra to the Iraqis "at some point this spring.''

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague, who supported the invasion, demanded an inquiry into the conduct of the post-invasion crisis and said if the Government did not agree, his party would force a vote on the issue. In a blistering attack on Mr. Blair's absence from the House, he said: "He should now be in the House to reassure Parliament and the country that the Government understands the gravity of the situation in Iraq and has a clear strategy for making Iraq safe and stable.''

The Liberal Democrat leader, Menzies Campbell, wanted British troops to be pulled out by October but the Foreign Secretary ruled out setting an "arbitrary'' deadline.

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