Labour Friends of Iraq

I have added my name to the open letter from Labour Friends of Iraq to the Stop the War coalition. With the elections less than a week away it is important that we all continue to show our support for those working to create democracy in Iraq. The failure of the Stop the War Coalition (a campaign whose success can be judged by its title) unequivocally to condemn the torture and murder of Hadi Saleh, International Officer of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions, is a disgrace.

There is a lot of sensible writing about Iraq on the weblog Harry's Place and also at Norman Geras's blog .

Those who opposed the military action in Iraq cannot duck a responsibility to identify routes forward from where we are now. A simple 'Troops Out' message is about as useful to Iraq today as it was to Northern Ireland in the 70s and 80s.