Left I on the News

Gordon Brown testified yesterday at the British commission investigating the invasion of Iraq. Brown insists that the invasion was "the right thing and was done for the right reasons." Interestingly enough he says the "right reasons" were that Iraq had systematically ignored 14 U.N. resolutions. So I guess we can look for the British invasion of Israel any day now.

But to me the most interesting part of his testimony, in light of what's going on in the U.S. (and in the U.K. and elsewhere right now) with cuts to education, health care, mass transit, libraries, and every possible social service, was this:

"I told [Tony Blair] I would not – and this was right at the beginning – try to rule out any military option on the grounds of cost. Quite the opposite. He should feel free, because this was the right course of action, to discuss the military option that was best for our country and the one that would yield the best results. We understood that some options were more expensive than others but we should accept the option that is right for our country."

"If you look at the question of expenditure in Iraq you have got to start from the one fundamental truth: that every request that the military commanders made to us for equipment was answered. No request was ever turned down."

And really, that pretty much sums it up. When it comes to war, no expense spared. When it comes to people's needs, cue the claims of "there's just no money to pay for X, Y, or Z." Also cue the bake sale.