Tribune letter criticises breathtaking view

Before Christmas, Robert Taylor argued for troops out of Iraq and his article included the following paragraph: "It will be argued an Anglo-American evacuation from Iraq could not be done overnight. But a strict timetable of June or July next year could be set for the process to end. There is a precedent, although admittedly not one that suggests such a departure would be trouble-free. The exit from India and that country's partition in 1947 cost the lives of millions but it was a cruel necessity. The same can be said for Iraq."

Tribune has published the following from Councillor Clive Furness.

Re the 'Opinion' article by Robert Taylor (Tribune 16th Dec). To regard the
potential death of a million Iraqis as an acceptable price to pay to have
UK/US troops home for the summer is quite simply breathtaking. To view the
British withdrawal from India as an acceptable model for withdrawal defies
belief, coming from someone who is supposedly on the Left and as such is one
who values human life.

In support of his position he prays in aid opinion polls showing that the
occupation is unpopular amongst Iraqis. He neglects to mention that when
Iraqis have been asked when the troops should leave that they have
consistently replied that it should be when the security situation is
resolved.Unlike Mr Taylor, Iraqis do not seem to relish the idea of civil
war.

Lastly Mr Taylor calls upon Iraqis to hold a referendum on the occupation,
and he does this before the votes in the general election have even been
counted.

Something like 70% of Iraqi adults have just voted, (with a choice of 231
parties and 7500 candidates). Perhaps Mr Taylor will now have the humility
to allow Iraqis and those that they have elected to decide about how and
when foreign troops leave Iraq.