-Caveat Lector- http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,926185,00.html Cook in clumsy retreat over call to withdraw troops
Michael White, political editor Monday March 31, 2003 The Guardian Robin Cook surprised his new allies on the anti-war left last night by backtracking from his demand that British troops be brought home from Iraq "before more of them are killed". The former leader of the Commons, who resigned from Tony Blair's cabinet on the eve of war, delighted anti-war MPs with his Sunday Mirror attack, which in turn disappointed ex-ministerial colleagues who had expected him to "lie low" or "write a book" before returning to the political fray. But after Mr Cook, foreign secretary until the last election, told Radio 4's World This Weekend that he did not favour abandoning the battle or "letting Saddam off the hook", there were angry mutterings on both sides of the Iraqi controversy that he was "doing a Clare Short" - by taking a tough stance, then backing down. In his article Mr Cook singled out the "neo-conservative dogma" of the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, as most blameworthy for coalition setbacks. He also pointedly recalled being told by his cabinet colleagues that it would be "a quick, easy war". "I just hope those who expected a quick victory are proved right," he wrote. "I have already had my fill of this bloody and unnecessary war. I want our troops home and I want them home before more of them are killed." That seemed clear to most MPs and prompted Bernard Jenkin, the shadow defence secretary, to accuse what he called "the author of the ethical foreign policy [of] yet another betrayal of the Iraqi people". But yesterday Mr Cook modified his position. "I am not in favour of abandoning the battlefield and that is not my position. There can be no question at this stage of letting Saddam off the hook." He told the BBC: "I wasn't in favour of starting this war, but having started this war, it's important to win it. The worst possible outcome will be one which left Saddam there." British forces had to "see the job through", he added. But Mr Cook, who denied any wish to overthrow Tony Blair, repeated his warnings of the likely horrors that would attend a siege of Baghdad, ruining all hopes of postwar friendship with the Iraqi people. "You can already see some of the consequences of that in Basra which is without water, without power, where there is very serious risk of humanitarian tragedy developing there. We were promised we would be greeted as liberators, and that's not happened yet," he said. David Blunkett, the home secretary, was among ministers who chided Mr Cook on television and radio yesterday for the content and timing of his latest intervention, though they did so in gentle terms. "Robin resigned with great dignity, put his argument with great force," Mr Blunkett said on BBC1's Breakfast with Frost. 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