Ann Clwyd criticises the Archbishop of Canterbury for not doing enough to get Saddam Hussein indicted for mass murder before the invasion of Iraq. Tony Blairs personal envoy to Iraq revealed she had asked Dr Rowan Williams to take a leading role in her campaign in 2002 when he was the Archbishop of Wales.
Ms Clwyd campaigned against Saddam’s human rights abuses for many years and, in 1996, founded a group called Indict which amassed evidence and sought to persuade governments to support moves to prosecute the dictator.
She said, “I went to see Rowan Williams in Newport in the summer of 2002 to try to get him to campaign for an indictment. He appeared to be quite enthusiastic at the time but all I ever saw was a quote from him in the Guardian some time later.
“I wish he, and others, had pursued the matter more vigorously. If Saddam had been indicted, he would have lost a lot of credibility in the Arab world and it may have been possible to avoid invasion.”