Further evidence of a Church of England that has so badly lost its way. The Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, the Rt Rev Richard Lewis, has launched into Tony Blair for -- guess what -- going to war in Iraq. And once again, having accused the PM of misleading the nation even if unintentionally, his war critic proceeds to do exactly that himself. For the bishop claims:

'The ultimate responsibility must lie with the Prime Minister. He stuck his head right out and laid it on the block by repeatedly talking about WMD and the 45-minute claim. That was the basis on which he took the country to war and I would have thought he has to stand by that.'

But this is not true. The country was not taken to war over the presumed existence of WMD, let alone the 45-minute claim (which was scarcely mentioned). Blair's speeches always made it clear that the casus belli was Saddam's refusal to obey the UN resolutions requiring him to prove he had dismantled his WMD programme, and that Blair's concern was over the link between rogue states such as Iraq, terrorism and WMD -- a link which the entire free world, not to mention the sainted UN, agreed made Iraq a menace.

To repeat for the umpteenth time: the threat posed by Saddam was never in dispute (not until after the war started going pear-shaped, when the chance arose to take a pop at Blair and Bush). Everyone had agreed that Saddam posed a threat. The dispute was over what to do about him. History has been comprehensively rewritten, and the Church of England has played its not insignificant part in that process. According to the bishop, Blair's judgment and integrity are now in question. Au contraire: it's the judgment and integrity of the church that now lies in shreds.

Posted by melanie at September 2, 2004