Why have The Times refused to print or even discuss a letter we sent them on the 17th October?
Dear Editor,
The Stop the War Coalition’s critique of the Iraq invasion of 2003 has been entirely confirmed by the Chilcot report into the episode. Its more recent opposition to David Cameron’s intervention in Libya also appears to have been borne out by events – or so the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee largely argued in a recent report.
Your editorial attacking StWC fails to acknowledge these facts, to which the organisation’s enduring strength and influence can surely be attributed. Having been proved broadly correct over Iraq, Libya (and Afghanistan for that matter) it is not surprising that Stop the War’s warnings over the consequences of deeper military intervention in Syria resonate. Indeed, its critics are not really proposing any serious alternative policy to ending the suffering in Syria beyond bluster and braggadocio.
Stop the War’s position has always been that the job of an anti-war movement in Britain is to hold the British government to account. However, it has also condemned Russian bombing in Syria from the very day that it started. To describe it as “cheerleaders of the Luftwaffe” is therefore not only offensive to the millions who share Stop the War’s views, but also entirely inaccurate.
Yours sincerely,
Mark Curtis
Brian Eno
Giles Fraser
Lindsey German
Francesca Martinez
Andrew Murray
Murad Qureshi
Mark Rylance
Salma Yaqoob
