Crybaby spanked:
Cook flayed as Blunkett asks: Who do you want to win?
ALISON HARDIE POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
ROBIN Cook invoked the fury of his former Cabinet colleagues yesterday when he urged Tony Blair to pull British troops out of Iraq after just ten days of war.
The former Leader of the House of Commons, who quit one day before MPs gave their assent for war, was subjected to a barrage of criticism after he branded the conflict "bloody and unnecessary".
Mr Cook also said the war would risk stoking up a "long-term legacy of hatred" for the West in the Arab world.
The most ferocious attack came from David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, who angrily questioned Mr Cook’s allegiance to Britain following his outburst. He demanded of Mr Cook: "Who do you wish to win?"
The onslaught proved too much for the Livingston MP, who later mounted a humiliating U-turn, insisting he was not advocating British capitulation and wanted Allied forces to "see the job through".
Mr Cook, in an article for yesterday’s Sunday Mirror, wrote: "I have already had my fill of this bloody and unnecessary war. I want our troops home and I want them home before more of them are killed."
In a devastating put down, Mr Blunkett told the BBC’s Breakfast With Frost programme: "Robin resigned with great dignity, putting his argument with great force. But it’s hard to retain that dignity or force if you advocate capitulation after just ten days.
"We have to back those who are in conflict in bringing down Saddam Hussein and we have to ask everyone to answer the question: ‘Who do you wish to win?’ It’s very difficult after ten days to say ‘pull out, leave a dictator in place’, with all the power that that would give not only to him but to other regimes across the world.
"We are past the point of arguing about whether we should have engaged in military action. We were long past it actually some time ago."
Labour party chairman John Reid accused Mr Cook of "undermining" the confidence of the Iraqi people that Saddam would be removed from power.
Dr Reid added: "I have to say that voices that call for the removal of troops and so on actually undermine people’s confidence in Iraq that we are staying. We are not going anywhere before we have removed Saddam Hussein."
He also echoed Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon’s remarks yesterday that British troops would be replaced if the war lasted months.
"The strategy will not mean that every single tactic will remain as it was; of course we will have to reinforce here, we will delay there, we will have to change this tactic," Dr Reid added.
Mr Cook later denied that he wanted Britain to give in.
"I am not in favour of abandoning the battlefield and that is not my position. There can be no question at this stage of letting Saddam off the hook," he said.
"I wasn’t in favour of starting this war, but having started this war, it’s important to win it. The worst possible outcome will be one which left Saddam there."
But he added: "We were promised we would be greeted as liberators, and that’s not happened yet, and if we have a prolonged siege of Baghdad it’s unlikely to happen when we get into Baghdad."
Mr Cook said that following the war he would help to close the divisions within the Labour Party.
"After this is over there will be divisions within the Labour Party that need to be bound up and the party needs to come together and I will certainly want to play my part in ensuring that we do that."
But Mr Cook denied that he was attempting to carve out a niche as a "voice of the Left" who would challenge Mr Blair for leadership of the party.
He said: "I want him to continue being the leader. I want him to continue being successful."
Mr Blunkett dismissed suggestions that the Prime Minister faced a fresh rebellion from Labour MPs if the war dragged on without a breakthrough.
But he conceded that this autumn’s Labour conference would be "difficult" if the war was still raging.
"Would a [Labour] conference in a prolonged confrontation be difficult? Yes it would. I don’t think there would be any mistake about that."
Mike O’Brien, the Foreign Office Minister, said: "Ten days after it started I don’t think this is the time to start telling our troops that they have got to withdraw, leave Saddam Hussein in place and leave his butchery to continue in Iraq.
"I have enormous respect for Robin, but I just think this was the wrong time to say these sorts of things."
A Downing Street spokesman said: "Robin Cook has a well-known position on Iraq and it is not one that the government shares. As the Prime Minister said in the press conference in Camp David, we will see the military campaign through until we achieve our objectives: that is, Saddam gone and Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction disarmed."
Bernard Jenkin, the shadow defence secretary, said: "I think it is a little odd for the author of the ethical foreign policy to be advocating yet another betrayal of the Iraqi people."
But former defence minister Doug Henderson said Mr Cook was reflecting what many members of the public were thinking.
He asked: "If it is so difficult to control the road north to Baghdad and try to make headway into Basra then what will the situation be like in Baghdad itself? Is it not better to recognise that we should withdraw?"
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