John Prescott reveals his guilt at the ‘illegal’ Iraq War will haunt him for the rest of his life
Former Deputy PM John Prescott has turned on Tony Blair and says the Iraq War was illegal
On Wednesday we finally saw the Chilcot Report .
It was a damning indictment of how the Blair Government handled the war – and I take my fair share of blame.
As the Deputy Prime Minister in that Government I must express my fullest apology, especially to the families of the 179 men and women who gave their lives in the Iraq War.
Chilcot went into great detail as to what went wrong. But I want to identify certain lessons we must learn to prevent this tragedy being repeated.
My first concern was the way Tony Blair ran Cabinet. We were given too little paper documentation to make decisions.
Read on… http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/john-prescott-reveals-guilt-illegal-8387319
John Prescott: Ex-deputy PM says Iraq War was illegal
John Prescott, who was deputy prime minister when Britain went to war with Iraq in 2003, says the invasion by UK and US forces was “illegal”.
Writing in the Sunday Mirror, he said he would live with the “catastrophic decision” for the rest of his life.
Tony Blair has apologised for mistakes he made but has said he stands by his decision to take the country to war.
Meanwhile Tory MP David Davis said he will submit a motion to hold the former PM in contempt of Parliament over Iraq.
If the motion is accepted, MPs could debate and vote on whether he is guilty of misleading the House of Commons before the summer recess.
Lord Prescott said Mr Blair’s statement that “I am with you, whatever” in a message to US President George W Bush before the invasion in March 2003, was “devastating”.
Read on… http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36756878
Prescott U-turn on legality of Iraq War
The former Labour deputy prime minister John Prescott said last night he now believes the Iraq War was illegal.
Prescott, who voted in favour of the invasion in 2003, said: “I live with the decision of going to war and its catastrophic consequences for the rest of my life.
“In 2004, the UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, said that as regime change was the prime aim of the Iraq War, it was illegal. With great sadness and anger, I now believe him to be right.”
He said he had changed his view in the wake of last week’s Chilcot report and, specifically, its revelation of Tony Blair’s “I will be with you, whatever” memo to George W Bush. Prescott said he thought America would not have undertaken the invasion without the support of the UK.
Read on… http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/mps-to-seek-ban-on-blair-for-contempt-bvs3jv9k3
Rotherham Politics 
Good.
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I didn’t support the Iraq war and never believed Saddam had usable WMDs but it wasn’t illegal. The ceasefire resolution in the first gulf war was conditional on Iraqi compliance with a list of conditions most of which were never fulfilled. The US and UK took the position from the start that non compliance would nullify that ceasefire. As permanent members of the security council who agreed to not to veto the resolution on condition they be able to interpret it thus and so they had the right to interpret thus and so pending a clarifying ruling of the council. China and Russia took the view that non compliance would require the matter be referred back to the security council. This would have been irrelevant had the claimed authority to use force in the second war derived entirely from the resolution authorising the first as a veto of the ceasefire resolution would have left that in force. However it was in fact the ceasefire resolution that authorised the use of force for purposes other than liberating Kuwait in the event of Iraqi non compliance. So both the US and UK and Russia and China were entitled to interpret the ceasefire resolution as they did and the war was both arguably legal and arguably illegal pending a clarifying resolution. In this case there was such a clarification, the post invasion ruling authorising US and UK to act as occupying powers. If the invasion of Iraq was illegal then the UN was party to illegality after the fact, an absurd position as the UN makes international law.
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Well done John Prescott.
He betrayed his wife but Blair betrayed the nation.
Prescott was contrite on both occasions and was deservedly forgiven by his wife and now the nation.
Tony Blair will never be forgiven by the nation and would never have been The Prime Minister without the strength of John Prescott.
Well done John Prescott. A strong man in ALL senses.
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Oh yes a strong man! He said he would never accept a peerage did Lord Prescott. Just one more principle to add to the long list of them that he and the New Labour abandoned.
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Prescott was Deputy PM. He took the salary and with the salary, goes responsibility. Had he spent more time supporting Robin Cook in asking Blair what the hell he was doing and less time having Ugandan discussions with his secretary and practising his croquet stroke, just maybe Iraq wouldn’t have happened.
Can someone reassure me that this pompous prat never had his finger on the nuclear button?
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Suppose Rotherham council and 3 MP’s took their salary too.
Get it whilst you can old boy.
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He didn’t show much guilt sending our troops with in adiquat equipment
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Everybody’s got guilt, but nobodies handing in their peerages, WHY?
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Silence.
Our MPs and cllrs have dived for cover over chilcot and illegal war in iraq.
As with CSE
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Sir Kevin served on the Intelligence & Security Committee for eight years. It seems he asked no questions, heard nothing and no one told him anything. Sound familiar?
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Intelligence?
That wud be a first. Just a willing tool
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Using a tool, requires a semblance of hard work and getting ones hands dirty. When was the last time Kev, did a honest day’s work?
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And poor Sir Kevin nobody came to his coffee mornings maybe that’s why he knows now’t about owt
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“Well done John Prescott”……that’s the absolute dummest thing I’ve ever read. Prescot is a thick Labour lout who has achieved or contributed NOTHING…except in alienating very many people from politics. As with Bliar, he should be prosecuted.
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