Prior to the invasion of Iraq, Hove MP Ivor Caplin made the following three assertions in an article in The Argus:
1) "Allowing Saddam to retain his weapons of mass destruction will lead not to peace but to much more conflict and bloodshed."
We now ask: With this war supposedly over, why are conflict and bloodshed the daily realities for Iraqis?
2) Saddam possessed "huge stockpiles of still missing weapons including 550 mustard gas bombs, 6,500 chemical weapons bombs, material for sarin and VX nerve gas and 10,000 litres of anthrax".
We now ask: Where are these weapons of mass destruction and why weren't used during the invasion?
3) "Not upholding UN resolution 1441 will increase the chances of terrorists getting their hands on these weapons and using them in a catastrophic attack."
We now ask: Since no link has ever been proved between Saddam's regime and Al-Qaida, how does Mr Caplin explain that since "victory over Saddam" there have been major terrorist attacks in Morocco and Saudi Arabia and the official list of unsafe destinations for UK travellers has considerably lengthened?
In Brighton and Hove the people have registered their disgust at Mr Caplin's pro-war stance and demonstrated in their thousands locally and in London. Thousands of local people have signed and continue to sign petitions.
Mr Caplin gave Tony Blair his "full support" in the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq and we note his subsequent promotion to the Ministry of Defence. This makes him even more answerable to the above questions.
Will Mr Caplin now address his constituents and apologise for misleading them?
-Manus McGrogan, Dan Rycroft and Kathy Hackman Hove Action For Peace
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