Britain's opposition Conservative Party was scheduled to call on parliament yesterday to back a formal inquiry into the decision to go to war in Iraq.
"We want the principle established that there must be an inquiry. It's about making sure we don't make the same mistakes again," Conservative Party Defense Spokesman Liam Fox said.
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has ruled out an inquiry so long as British troops are deployed on active duty in Iraq.
The Conservative Party strongly supported Blair's decision to back the US-led invasion.
In a key House of Commons debate on March 18, 2003, shortly before the conflict began, 90 percent of Conservative members of parliament voted for the invasion.
Sixty-two percent of the members of Blair's Labour Party voted for the invasion.
All of the Liberal Democrats, the third-largest party in the House of Commons, voted no.
"Whether we were in favor of the invasion of Iraq, which I certainly was, or against it, we've got to all be in favor of learning from the invasion's successes and the failures," Conservative spokesman William Hague said.
"We've got to learn how the machinery of government in this country operates in making the decision to go to war; we've got to learn about the management of relations with the United States, about the coordination of government departments," Hague said.
Hague, who led the Conservative party from 1997 to 2001, spoke in favor of the invasion in the debate four years ago.
At that time, he said it was part of Britain's "national interest to act in concert with the United States of America in matters of world peace and stability."
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
MIGRATION: The Supreme Court justices said they were not deciding whether Trump could legally use the Alien Enemies Act to deport undocumented migrants US President Donald Trump on Friday lashed out at the US Supreme Court after it blocked his bid to resume deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members, saying the justices are “not allowing me to do what I was elected to do.” Trump’s berating of the high court, in a post on Truth Social, came after it dealt another setback to his attempt to swiftly expel alleged Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members using an obscure wartime law, the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA). Trump has been at loggerheads with the judiciary ever since he returned to the White House, venting
RSS