Edinburgh
Robin Cook, the foreign secretary who resigned over the Iraq war, died this week of a heart attack he suffered while hiking. Cook, a brilliant orator and debater, was considered the Labor Partys best hope for a leftist revival. His resignation speech in 2003, sparked by Prime Minister Tony Blairs decision to support the U.S.led invasion of Iraq, inspired many Britons to join his anti-war stance. We cannot base our military strategy on the assumption that Saddam is weak and at the same time justify pre-emptive action on the claim that he is a threat, Cook said. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Cook a passionate defender of human freedom and dignity, singling out his efforts to end ethnic cleansing in the Balkans.
