MACCLESFIELD Councillor Mike Flynn claims the Lib Dems were the only ones who 'got it right' in their stance on Iraq.

In truth the vast majority of the British public were against invading Iraq without the full backing and involvement of the United Nations.

But the UN were not convinced and neither were the British people, it was only the Prime Minister's declaration that Weapons of Mass Destruction could be unleashed upon us within 45 minutes that swung the balance.

Without that there would have been no war and we would not now be stuck in the deadly and unpredictable quagmire that is Iraq.

It was the sound judgement of the British people not to go to war and the flawed judgement of Mr Blair that they were wrong.

At a time when the public needed strong opposition in the House to prevent us being railroaded into an illegal war they found a row upon row of nodding dogs.

And now, after the event, when every justification has proved to be false MPs cannot summon the courage to put party politics aside and admit Parliament (to which they all belong) got it emphatically wrong.

They are all far too concerned with scoring party points and getting re-elected.

I have no doubt history will prove the Iraq War to be our greatest political blunder of all time.

Thousands of soldiers and citizens have been killed because Mr Blair insisted Iraq posed an imminent threat to our survival.

But there were no weapons of mass destruction, no stocks of deadly Anthrax and last week US Secretary of Defence Donald H Rumsfeld admitted they could find no relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda.

One by one the justifications for our going to war have been discredited. Incredibly, even the capture of evil Saddam has told us nothing; it seems like he too was irrelevant.

Should there be another call to arms who would the British people believe?

When it was discovered crucial 'intelligence' supporting the Prime Minister's case for war was actually lifted verbatim from a student's thesis found on the Internet MPs, of all shades and varieties, should have screamed their protest and walked out of the House.

Instead they sat on their hands, and failed the people of this country. There is no honour for any of them in this tragedy.

Very soon our brave young soldiers who thought they were members of the British Army will be sent into the most terrifying parts of Baghdad under American command.

I doubt their parents, wives or girlfriends will be comforted by Councillor Flynn's assertion that the Lib Dems 'got it right'.

If only our self-serving politicians had the courage of our troops.

  • The views expressed on this page are those of Vic Barlow and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Express.