Margaret Thatcher's take on the invasion of Iraq

I'm not a huge fan of Margaret I-hope-you're satisfied! Thatcher. I think she did some interesting work in reforming the British economy, but could've had some form of compassion for those who lost out when she started those reforms.

In hindsight, she was not my favourite leader. Nevertheless, I feel I can respect her for what she was trying to do. She was one of these people who got down and dirty with it when it came to partisan politics, but was able to bring about some major changes that have made Britain a better place.

Notice I said some... I will give credit where it's due, but that doesn't mean that I like her, or would have voted for her at the time.

Anyway, in a recent edition of The Washington Post, Thatcher's view on the 2003 invasion of Iraq was given as follows:

The former chairman of the Arts Council of Great Britain, Lord Palumbo, who lunched with Mrs. T six months ago, told me recently what she said when he asked her if, given the intelligence at the time, she would have made the decision to invade Iraq. "I was a scientist before I was a politician, Peter," she told him carefully. "And as a scientist I know you need facts, evidence and proof -- and then you check, recheck and check again. The fact was that there were no facts, there was no evidence, and there was no proof. As a politician the most serious decision you can take is to commit your armed services to war from which they may not return."

Even Thatcher knew...

(emphasis mine)


Important Update:
There are serious claims that this quote may, in fact, be spurious. IRIS Blog has an article about this claim. It will be interesting to see how this develops - either the WP reporter in question gets disciplined (preferably sacked for fabricating information) or, if the claims are true, then things get worse for George W. (Thanks to Barak Moore for this information - see comments below)

This issue is also covered in an article from The Independent, a UK Newspaper.

By the way - I am in favour of the instant termination of any reporter who gets such important facts wrong, whatever their political bias. (Termination meaning getting sacked, not being killed!)


From the One Salient Overlord Department

© 2005 Neil McKenzie Cameron, http://one-salient-oversight.blogspot.com/




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