Voters head for the polls after damning Iraq report

[JoFerret]

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=547467§ion=news

LONDON (Reuters) - Voters in two ethnically diverse cities get an early opportunity today to pass judgement on a report into Iraq's weapons that exposed gaping flaws in pre-war intelligence but cleared Prime Minister Tony Blair of blame.

Birmingham and Leicester South, both Labour strongholds with large Muslim communities, choose MPs in by-elections that will test the waters ahead of a probable general election next year.

The polls come a day after a report by former civil servant Lord Butler absolved Blair of distorting intelligence on Iraq but said Baghdad had no significant stores of chemical or biological weapons ready for use -- despite Blair's pre-war claim that it did.

While Butler said he found no evidence to question Blair's good faith, his damning indictment of Iraqi intelligence revived a blazing row over the justification Blair gave for war and gave his critics fresh ammunition to query his trustworthiness.

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[struggle4progress]

1. Blair's Party Loses Parliamentary Seat

Tony Blair's Labour Party Loses Parliamentary Seat to Anti-War Party in Special Election
The Associated Press

LONDON July 15, 2004 — Prime Minister Tony Blair's governing Labour Party lost a parliamentary seat to an anti-war party and narrowly avoided defeat, according to vote results Friday.
The result is a further blow for Blair, whose popularity has slumped since the Iraq war. Labour fared terribly in local council and European Parliament elections last month and some in the party question whether Blair, once their most prized electoral asset, has become a liability.

The Liberal Democrats, who strongly opposed the war in Iraq, finished first in Thursday's balloting with 10,274 votes in Leicester, a city in central England with a high Muslim population. Labour was second with 8,620 votes and the Conservative Party had 5,796. Labour narrowly held onto another parliamentary seat, in the nearby city of Birmingham.
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http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040715_2084.html

[goforit]

2. The British are as bad as the repug treasonists!