Did British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw's explanation of the Beatles' "four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire," inspire Condolezza Rice's concession that there have been "a thousand tactical errors" in Iraq? Potholes are made to be patched, and they are mere nuisances along what is after all the right way to go! Straw and Rice have now popped up in Baghdad, where they are desperately trying to cajole the nation formerly known as Iraq into forming a "unity" government--and this time they really mean it. Meanwhile, outside the Green Zone, the civil war intensifies--and back in London the British Home Office is preparing to release a report on the July 2005 London bombings that took 52 innocent lives. According to The Observer (April 2):
Despite attempts by Downing Street to play down suggestions that the conflict has made Britain a target for terrorists, the Home Office inquiry into the deadliest terror attack on British soil has conceded that the bombers were inspired by UK foreign policy, principally the decision to invade Iraq.
The narrative will be published in the next few weeks....Initial drafts of the government's account into the bombings, which have been revealed to The Observer, state that Iraq was a key 'contributory factor'. The references to Britain's involvement in Iraq are contained in a section examining what inspired the 'radicalisation' of the four British suicide bombers, Sidique Khan, Hasib Hussain, Shehzad Tanweer and Germaine Lindsay.
The findings will prove highly embarrassing to Tony Blair, who has maintained that the decision to go to war against Iraq would make Britain safer. On the third anniversary of the conflict last month, the Prime Minister defended Britain's involvement in Iraq, arguing that only an interventionist stance could confront terrorism.
So much for the "at least we're safer" apology for the Iraqi adventure.
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