Ulster Unionist MLA Steve Aiken OBE has responded to the publication of the Chilcot report into the Iraq war.
At the outbreak of the Iraq war, the South Antrim MLA was a Commander in the Royal Navy, based with the US Fifth Fleet on board the USS Abraham Lincoln in the North Arabian Gulf.
Steve Aiken OBE MLA said:
“It was an ill-conceived campaign based on the faulty premise that by toppling Saddam Hussein there would have been a ‘democratic’ revolution across the Middle East.
“It was particularly disappointing that Tony Blair, Jack Straw and the rest of the ‘sofa cabinet,’ having taken the courageous and justified decision to support the US in operations in Afghanistan directly against Al Qaeda, became embroiled in Bush and Cheney’s neo-con conflict in Iraq.
“What is equally unforgiveable, having decided to become embroiled in a ‘conflict of choice,’ they deliberately under resourced our armed forces and led to the ridiculous and unfortunately tragic situation of our brave servicemen and women being placed in harm’s way without access to some of the most basic equipment to defend themselves or complete the mission.
“There are wider implications in the Chilcot Inquiry that refers to the use of armed force rather than using other tools at the State’s power. It seems to be that the UK continues to follow the US perspective of using military power as the first rather than the last lever to advance change. The British people and in particular the British Armed Forces, deserve better.”