British Premier Tony Blair has come under fresh attacks to admit he was mistaken on the issue of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
Blair has been firmly criticized by two Church of England leaders and former Foreign Secretary Cook for his handling of the war against Iraq.
Dr. David Hope, the Archbishop of York, questioned the legitimacy of the war and warned that the Premier would have to answer in the end to God.
Meanwhile, the Bishop of Durham, Dr. Tom Wright, called Blair a "vigilante".
For his part, former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said it was time for the government to admit it had been wrong about the threat posed by ousted leader Saddam Hussein.
"It is undignified for the (British) Prime Minister, and worrying for his nation, to go on believing a threat which everybody else can see was a fantasy," argued Robin Cook, who quit the government over its decision to join the US-led war in Iraq.
Cook, in an interview published in Monday's Independent added, "Tony Blair has not yet tried to argue that it makes no difference whether we never find weapons of mass destruction, but I would almost prefer him to do so than persist in his unhealthy stated denial of the mounting evidence that they do not exist" in Iraq.
Cook also denied that the US-led action in Iraq could be described a victory.
"Far from being a victory in the war on terrorism, the invasion of Iraq has been a spectacular own goal, as our intelligence services accurately warned," he said.
"We now have a new front against terrorism within Iraq with no evidence of any reduction in terrorism outside Iraq."
Dr. Hope, Britain's second most senior church leader, criticized Blair for not listening to opponents during the war in Iraq.
In an interview with the Times, he said, "We still have not found any weapons of mass destruction anywhere.
"Are we likely to find any? Does that alter the view as to whether we really ought to have mounted the invasion or not?
"Undoubtedly a very wicked leader has been removed but there are wicked leaders in other parts of the world."
Dr. Wright said he did not think Blair and President George W. Bush had the credibility to deal with the problems in Iraq.
"For Bush and Blair to go into Iraq together was like a bunch of white vigilantes going into Brixton to stop drug-dealing," he told the Independent.
"This is not to deny there's a problem to be sorted, just that they are not credible people to deal with it."
Dr. Hope warned Blair, "There is a higher authority before whom one day we all have to give an account."
On his part, Cook warned the British leader he might never win back public trust after the Iraq war. Blair had tried to turn that "innocuous" finding into a threat when everyone in the UK could see Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, Cook argued.
"It really is time that the Prime Minister accepted that himself," Cook told BBC Radio 4's Today program. "It is undignified for the Prime Minister to continue to insist he was right when everyone can see he was wrong," he added. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
