Liberals can read! And see! And think!
Sure this is a U.K. story, but I’ve always had great hope for our fantastic Canada. The more people read and think, the more conservative they get—or should I say, the more they realize they are conservatives.
Founder of Iraq anti-war group changes mind
An MP who was a founder member of Labour Against the War has quit the group, saying that after last month’s elections in Iraq he now believed Allied troops should remain in the country, it emerged today.
Harry Barnes’ defection will be welcomed by the Labour leadership, which fears that many of the party’s traditional supporters will stay at home in the forthcoming General Election because of anger over Iraq.
The North-East Derbyshire MP, who is stepping down at the election, accused his former colleagues in the anti-war movement of retailing “simple-minded” claims about the extent of civilian casualties in Iraq since the war.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I joined Labour Against the War from the start and was on the original platform next to Tony Benn and fully supported action to stop the war, but things have moved and changed.”
He could no longer support the anti-war camp’s demands for withdrawal of troops of the US-led coalition, which he said should be a decision for the Iraqi people.
“The Iraqi people now have an avenue for expressing their opinion through their Parliament and the Government that has been established,” he said. “The coalition should be there a little longer to hold the ring.”
Mr Barnes accused the anti-war movement of offering a “one-sided” view of life in Iraq, endlessly repeating the 100,000 casualty estimate produced in an analysis of deaths caused by the conflict, published in the academic journal The Lancet.
“That analysis said it could be anything between 2,000 and 198,000,” he said. “Some things are just over-the-top and simple-minded.” […]
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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