June 20, 2025 - Judging Freedom - Judge Andrew Napolitano
05:20
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| Time | Text |
|---|---|
| Back when the Tony Blair government asked the British House of Commons to endorse the George W. Bush-inspired invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the late, great Anthony Wedgwood Ben, a fierce fighter against war, gave a remarkable speech on the floor of the House of Commons. | |
| Two-minute, Chris, the longer version, here is the two-minute essence of what the great Anthony Wedgwood Ben said. | |
| I'll finish just by saying this. | |
| War is an easy thing to talk about. | |
| There are not many people of the generation that remember it. | |
| The right honourable gentleman served with the six and last one. | |
| I never killed anyone, but I wore uniform. | |
| But I was in London in the Blitz in 1940, living in the Millbank Tower where I was born. | |
| Some different ideas have come in since. | |
| And every night I went down to the shelter in Thames House. | |
| Every morning I saw the It was terrifying. | |
| Aren't Arabs terrified? | |
| Aren't Iraqis terrified? | |
| Don't Arab and Iraqi women weep when their children die? | |
| Doesn't bombing strengthen their determination? | |
| What fools we are to live in a generation for which war is a computer game for our children and just an interesting little Channel 4 news item. | |
| Every Member of Parliament tonight who votes for the Government motion Now, that's for their decision to take. | |
| But this is a quite unique debate in my parliamentary experience where we ask to share responsibility for a decision we won't really be taking with consequences for people who have no part to play. | |
| In the brutality of the regime which we are dealing with. | |
| And I finish with this. | |
| On October 24, 1945, and the former Prime Minister from Bexley and Old Circuit will remember it, the United Nations Charter was passed. | |
| And the words of that charter etched into my mind and moved me even as I think of them. | |
| We, the people of the United Nations, determined to save future generations. | |
| Succeeding generations from the scourge of war which twice in our lifetime has caused untold suffering to mankind. | |
| That was the pledge of that generation to this generation and it would be the greatest betrayal of all if we voted to abandon the charter and take unilateral action and pretend we were doing it in the name of the international community and I shall vote against the motion for the reasons that I've given them. | |
| There is no great debate in the House of Representatives or the Senate of the United States of America on this. | |
| For all of the wrongful decisions that were made by the House of Commons, at least they had a debate. | |
| At least there was an Anthony Wedgwood. | |
| There's nothing here. | |
| It's a decision of one man made in a subterranean room surrounded by people telling him what he wants to hear. | |
| No, I agree. | |
| But I also think it's worth noting where this message came from. | |
| Again, an elderly statesman now who's passed away. | |
| And this is a real problem because it's said that every generation has to learn. | |
| I think we're good to go. | |
| order in which war is something that doesn't happen here. | |
| It happens far away in other places and And again, we can sit and justify whatever we're doing. | |
| Usually we do it by referencing democracy and freedom and ideals that we hold there. | |
| But there is this also what he suggested, this always a need. | |
| If you're going to go and bomb other people, the need to dehumanize the opponent. | |
| Again, they do have, you know, And all we have to do now is make references to terrorism, and it's enough to begin to support a genocide. | |
| And it's not just that the people we are slaughtering in other places, which is a disaster, but it's also hollowing out the soul of our countries as well. | |
| When we have to legitimize what shouldn't be legitimized just on a daily basis. | |
| Yeah, it's quite heartbreaking. | |
| I wish we had these kind of diplomats and politicians today, because I don't see them among our own political class. | |
| The American Congress, there's just a few, and the leadership does the best it can to shut them down. | |
| The House of Representatives doesn't permit debate. | |
| They give you one or two minutes. | |
| The Senate, you can talk as long as you want, but you're talking to |
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