Welsh MP Criticises Archbishop's 'Iraq Failure'

Welsh Labour MP Ann Clwyd has spoken out against the Archbishop of Canterbury, accusing him of not doing enough to get Saddam Hussein indicted for mass murder before the invasion of Iraq.

Ms Clwyd, Labour MP for Cynon Valley and Tony Blair's personal envoy to Iraq, said she had asked Dr Rowan Williams to take a leading role in her campaign against Saddam in 2002 when he was the Archbishop of Wales, reports Welsh newspaper Western Mail.

A vocal opponent of Saddam and his human rights abuses, Ms Clwyd formed the group Indict in 1996, which set about gathering evidence against the executed Iraqi dictator and campaigned for governments to support moves to prosecute the dictator.

"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," she said.

"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."

Her comments came as Dr Williams considered last Friday whether he had done enough to oppose the invasion of Iraq.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the Archbishop repeated his criticism of the decision to go to war, calling it morally and practically flawed, but added, "I said what I believed I needed to say. I shall need to think quite a long time about whether I could have said more, or less for that matter."

Dr Williams recently returned from a visit to the Middle East, and criticised the UK government for placing Christians there at risk through its "shortsighted" and "ignorant" actions in Iraq.

"What we have seen in the last year or so in Iraq has been attacks on Christian priests, the murder of some Christian priests, and the massive departure of large numbers of Christians from Iraq," he said.

"The situation has got worse since Saddam fell."

Saddam was executed on Saturday morning for crimes against humanity.