|
But she acknowledged progress in human rights since
the war had been "slow".
'Years of abuse'
In particular, she said she was still concerned
about levels of violence against women and the
increase in honour killings.
Former prime minister Tony Blair appointed Ms Clwyd
as special envoy to Iraq on human rights two months
after the invasion.
Ms Clwyd is chairman of Indict, a body that since
1996 had been pushing for a international tribunal
to put senior figures in Saddam's regime on trial
for crimes against humanity.
Appearing before the Chilcot inquiry, she documented
what she said was "35 years of abuse" against the
Iraqi people prior to the 2003 invasion,
particularly against the Kurdish and Shia
populations.
She said there had been a "very violent suppression"
of these groups following an attempted uprising in
1991 and that she was angry that the UN took such a
"passive" approach to this at the time.
She said she had been persuaded that military action
was necessary during a visit to Kurdistan,www.ekurd.netin
the north of Iraq, in February 2003.
While the Kurds had never told her before that they
backed a foreign invasion, they told her then that
it was the only course as they feared the regime
would use chemical weapons against them again.
She said she believed the previous policy of
sanctions was not working as the regime had not been
undermined and had made conditions worse by
withholding food and medicine from sections of the
population.
Asked whether she felt the invasion was justified,
she said: "I felt there was no other option".
Despite the years of violence following the
invasion, Ms Clwyd said she was "optimistic" about
the future of Iraq and progress was being made "in
all areas", albeit slowly.
The Iraq inquiry is examining the lead-up to the
2003 invasion, the conduct of the war and its
aftermath.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
bbc co.uk
Top |
®
