Jack Straw attacks those that opposed the war in Iraq

1.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 19th Oct 2004

Jack Straw, has on BBC's Today programme attacked those that didn't agree with Labour and opposed the war in Iraq. He said "Those who opposed the military action, however,also have their responsibility.As of March 2003,the possibility of securing weakened weakened Saddam by effective inspections and an ultimatum wasn`t on offer. So the choice was between our course or a strengthened Saddam Hussein." Well Jack I opposed the war, not because I want to strengthen Saddam Hussein but because you, Blair and Bush were lying to me about why we had to go to war, you didn't even give Hans Blix and his inspectors a chance to satisfy the UN that weapons of mass destruction had been destroyed you just wanted war.

I opposed the war, that does not mean I thought Saddam should have stayed, in fact I think Saddam should have been removed from office at the end of the first Gulf War, either through military operations or supporting the uprisings that followed and were encouraged by the United States and the United Kingdom. I do not even oppose regime change if a dictator is abusing the human rights of the citizen's of a country, what I oppose is being lied to and a few countries ignoring the United Nations and invading a country and undertaking an illegal war.