21 years on: could the 2003 Iraq War have been stopped?
At 21 years the run up to and the start of the 2003 Iraq War is on the cusp of moving into history. Yet of course it is still very current. So much so that the 20th anniversary of the start of the war in 2023 warranted Editorials (Guardian) and features (New Statesman).
The march against the war organised by the Stop the War Coalition on 15th February 2003 remains the largest ever in British history. There are still very large numbers of people who were on the march around and who can remember why they were on it. Many will have been marching for Palestine in recent months (if their knees are up to it)along with new generations too young to have been involved in 2003.
That march was a part of a global anti-war movement, yet the war went ahead.
The Foreign Secretary Robin Cook resigned and made a powerful Commons speech arguing that he could not support a war that did not have the support of Britain’s international allies and indeed the UN. Alastair Campbell notes in his diaries that a ‘second resolution’ which is what Cook was speaking about was not needed for the war to go ahead. Clearly he was right, the war went ahead. That however did not make it legal.
139 Labour MPs voted against the war in the Commons:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/mar/19/uk.houseofcommons3?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
On the day war started there were protests by school students across the country. Those who protested will now be in their thirties and no doubt remember what they did. The idea however was to encourage workplace walkouts and stoppages against the war. It didn’t happen on a sufficiently significant scale.
15th February 2003 was a sufficient mobilisation to make sure the Iraq War remains not just nearly history but also very much a current issue. Sadly it wasn’t enough to get the Government to pull back from supporting the war. The death and destruction that followed in Iraq are a reminder of why the effort to stop the war was important.
The reality that the war wasn’t stopped reminds again that huge demonstrations are key to mobilising and organising but that is just one stage. It has to be followed through into workplaces and communities. There are signs that is happening over Palestine but it is a work in urgent progress
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