Posted on 05/05/2005 7:59:15 AM PDT by tellw
"Good to see Blair won. The Conservative Party candidate wanted to appease the thug terrorists and pull out of Iraq"
That's 100% inaccurate, I'm not sure where you got that from.
Where do you get the information that Howard would have pulled out of Iraq that is balant untruth. He fully supports the Iraq conflict he arguement has always been the manner we went into war.
He in fact would have taken Britain earlier IMHO and not pushed like Blair did for the unsucessful UN resolution. Howard felt quite happy with regime change even if in some quarters it would have been called an illegal war. As it is now for Britain may refer to it as that because went on the basis of WMDs and when you weigh the intellgence up that we went on it was not proven.
Here is Howard's stand on the Iraq conflict
""When the Cold War ended, we all hoped that our children and grandchildren would grow up in a safer world.
That hope was shattered on September 11th 2001.
Our world changed. Taking a plane, going on the Tube - all these things suddenly carried a new risk.
Meanwhile, we face the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
How do we confront this sense of insecurity? How do we tackle these threats?
First, people need to be told the truth about the threats we face. And if we consider the threat to our freedom and our interests merit military action, we should not flinch.
Every day British servicemen and women face great danger in Iraq. The way they carry out their duties does Britain proud, and makes Britain proud.
I believe it was right to go to war. That's a controversial view. Many people would prefer me to say something else. But that is how I see it. And I owe it to you to tell you how I see it.
The world is a better place without Saddam Hussein.
Saddam had provoked two wars in the Gulf. He had used chemical weapons against other nations and against his own people. No one knew if and when he would get his hands on more weapons of mass destruction.
So I think it was right to go to war. But I also think it's right to tell the truth.
In the run-up to the war, Tony Blair did not tell the truth. He did not give a truthful account of the intelligence he received. He did not behave as a British Prime Minister should.
Tony Blair has said that mistakes were made. He has said he accepts responsibility. But it is not a question of responsibility. It is a question of credibility.
I hope that we will not face another war.
But the world is a very dangerous place, and you can never be sure.
What if this Prime Minister asks people to trust him again? Could the British people trust him a second time?""
Hardly a man who would pull the troops out in fact under a Conservative Government more money would be spent on the military.
Of course as most of those stances are an antithesis to the Republican party these days, except in stump speeches, that's about what I would expect. But it is good to see the Conservatives did pick up a few seats and the Labor party lost more than a few.
He himself said that on BBC as recently as April 26, 2005. he said the Iraq war is unwinnable, while that may be true in some respects, but there has been major progress on a number of fronts in Iraq. Winners never quit, and quitters never win.
If your refering to Michael Howard, I don't believe he ever said anything remotely like that. He certainly would not have pulled out the troops straight away.
Even the Lib Dems favoured keeping the troops in Iraq until the UN mandate expires at the end of the year.
I never said "straight away", stop putting words in my mouth. I'm fully aware of the UN mandate expiring at the end of the year. Regardless of who would have won the Prime Ministeral of Britain, the Parliament would force any one of them to abide by the mandate and withdraw from Iraq.
True. I believe that the pre-election polls showed Labour returning with a majority of 66 seats and they came back with a majority of 68.
Follow the link back. Rush was salivating over exit polls that forecast a Conservative upset. I pointed out yesterday that if exit polls were that accurate then we would have inaugurated President Kerry last January. As it turned out, the exit polls were way off and Labour was returned with almost the very majority predicted in pre-election polls.
"I never said "straight away", stop putting words in my mouth. I'm fully aware of the UN mandate expiring at the end of the year. Regardless of who would have won the Prime Ministeral of Britain, the Parliament would force any one of them to abide by the mandate and withdraw from Iraq."
Uh ok. Well, yes, then I agree with you that British troops will not be in Iraq for ever. They'll likely leave when the Iraqi government judges that the situation is secure enough and asks for them to leave. That may or may not be at the end of this year. That would be the situation whether Blair or Howard (or Gordon Brown for that matter) was PM. I'm not sure how that counts as 'appeasing the thug terrorists'
"Follow the link back. Rush was salivating over exit polls that forecast a Conservative upset. I pointed out yesterday that if exit polls were that accurate then we would have inaugurated President Kerry last January. As it turned out, the exit polls were way off and Labour was returned with almost the very majority predicted in pre-election polls."
No the exit polls were released at 10.01 last night and predicted a 66 seat majority which was almost spot on. It is not legal in Britain to release an exit poll before the polls close. However I believe Rush Limburgh claimed yesterday, about 5 hours before the polls closed, to have exit poll data showing a Conservative win.
Now, either he was lying or he did have a leak which he misread horribly, but that was never a conclusion reached by a poll.
Tony Blair looks like UNC Basketball Coach Roy Williams in that CGI from last night.
Labour 355* (-47!), Conservative 197 (+33), LibDems 62 (+11), Scottish National 6 (+2), Plaid Cymru 3 (-1), RESPECT 1 (+1), Sinn Fein 1, Independent 2 (+1) (627/646 reporting)
TO all the Brits and Europeans who stayed up way too late to chew the fat on the election with us, a big thanks from me personally.
Hope you all had a good supply of coffee this morning.
All we are waiting for is Northern Ireland now. Unfortunately, it is a Conservative wasteland...the most right-wing major party there is the Democratic Unionist group. I wish Sinn Fein would get lost!!!
Well, I'm an American too! I just find British politics to be very, very interesting. I too am glad that the Tories got their foot in the door.
Hopefully they will bring the "moral values" into play and stop the secularism...
Looks like the Tories came within a whisker of taking Crawley...we're talking a margin of under 50 votes. Labour is going to have several seats on the brink at the next election to defend.
Recounts could change those numbers (if they have mandatory recounts in the UK)
Just a general bulletin to everyone interested: Michael Howard is quitting the Tory leadership...
Does anyone have any ideas as to who could succeed him? I must say I'm a bit puzzled, since I truly thought he earned the right to fight another day, but it's his decision.
Bad move!
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