Conservative leadership election

Sat 10 Dec 2005, 17:50

Cameron replies.

I have been writing a number of open letters to David Cameron of late.There was a big meeting in the town where he promised to look into the cluster bombs left in Iraq.

I record here his response to my question about the use of WMD by our forces in Iraq.

"CLUSTER BOMBS

Thank you for your e-mail about your serious concerns regarding the actions of British forces in Iraq.

I do not agree that our forces are committing human rights violations. The use of white phosphorus is not illegal under international law and can be used for stategic advantage on the battle field. It serves as a smokescreen to obscure our soldiers when no other cover is available- in short, it is used to protect our troops' lives in action.

Thank you for taking the time to write to me on this matter. Despite our differences of opinion, I do value your thoughts on this issue- it is right that we continue to scrutinise the Government's actions, especially as the reconstruction of Iraq continues.

If there is anything else I can help you with, please do not hesitate to let me know."

I reply,

Thank you for your letter, received on the day you were elected to the Conservative Party leadership, which saddens me immensely. As you will see from my earlier blogs, I had great hopes of you coming out against the Iraq debacle.

Thank you also for your letter and a copy of Mr Ingrams', the Junior Defence Minister's letter claiming that the RAF did not soften up Iraq's miliary resistence before the invasion. May I refer you to my blog below where an American military source admits that we did exactly that.

I believe that I am writing to you as leader of the country's opposition to Blair on behalf of the great majority of the people of this country and in particular the two million of us who stood in sub zero temperatures for hours and then marched through London just before this illegal war started to protest our opposition to it. It is not possible to believe in our own country as a democracy when the will of the people can be thwarted like this.

I note that you head your letter CLUSTER BOMBS, but have not responded to my mention of the report that shows many unexploded fragments remain in civilian areas which threaten the lives of innocent children. You do not mention the terrible nuclear hazard of depleted uranium which has devasted the lives of our troops and Iraqis.

As for white phosphorus, I must suppose that you are badly informed. The Pentagon has revealed the fact that this weapon was used as an assault weapon against people in Falluja last November. A US military magazine had boasted about it. Having first denied the charge made by Italian State Media, it has owned up after a blogger revealed the truth. George Monbiot has written of this in the Guardian. I have seen video evidence of civilians in Falluja hideously disfigured by weapons which are obviously not conventional.

I have read in the papers that you are still in favour of the Iraq war, even though there were no WMD found and it is ludicrous now to suggest Iraq was an imminent threat to our security. Perhaps you could confirm or deny this. When you came out in favour of the war before it started you said it was because "we all know he has wmd." You seem to have changed your story here.

I would like to point out to you that white phosphorus is an illegal weapon when used directly against people. It is then a chemical weapon and banned as wmd.

There is no evidence that British troops used this weapon. But your letters would seem to suggest that Saddam had to be stopped from using chemical weapons while, we can use them as a smokescreen (for other barbarity?).

I would like to add one more observation. I think your party will never be re-elected while you continue to support illegal military expeditions. Even in this constituency there is immense hostility to the American collapse into barbarism.

The RAF joke goes like this.
"If you were shot down in the desert and had one bullet left, and you were faced by an American and an Iraqi, which one would you shoot?"

"The American!" is the usual reply.

Even as I speak my fellow playwright, Harold Pinter, is calling Bush and Blair "war criminals" in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech. I wholeheartedly agree with him.

For more correspondence with Cameron and being a parent in Charlbury google Blairy england