one of the leading British critics of the U.S. war: former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. In 2001, he helped form the Stop the War Coalition to campaign against the U.S. invasion. This is Corbyn in October 2001 questioning then-Prime Minister Tony Blair in the British Parliament, two weeks after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan.
JEREMY CORBYN: Does the prime minister not recognize that the continued bombing campaign, including the use of cluster bombs, in Afghanistan is forcing large numbers of people to seek refuge in Pakistan, that it’s bringing devastation and poverty to the people of Afghanistan, and it seems to be directed, in part, against conscripted soldiers and against civilian targets? Does he not accept the call of the aid agencies last week for a halt in the bombing to allow the humanitarian aid to get in, rather than more death and more destruction?
PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR: Mr. Speaker, I just answered, a moment or two ago, about the humanitarian program, and I drew attention to comments of spokespeople for the World Food Programme that it is not the bombing that is preventing the food getting through. In respect of the campaign itself, there are no civilian targets at all. We do everything we can, unlike bin Laden and the al-Qaeda network, who set out to kill as many civilians as they possibly could — we do everything we can to minimize civilian casualties.
But, as I was saying earlier today, there is a simple choice in this respect. We either decide, after an atrocity like the 11th of September, that we are going to act against those responsible, against those sheltering those who are responsible, or we don’t. And I can’t see, in the light of that atrocity, the fact that we know that that network of terror intends committing further such atrocities, how we could possibly stand back and do nothing in those circumstances. So, I respect entirely his right to disagree with the course that we are taking, but I believe that course to be right.
— source democracynow.org | Aug 26, 2021