In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
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Sunan of Abu Dawud Narrated AbuSa'id al-Khudri: The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: The best fighting (jihad) in the path of Allah is (to speak) a word of justice to an oppressive ruler.
Literally a few minutes ago (1500hrs 20/04/2006) Jack Straw came and spoke to me outside my house.
I asked him what he was doing in Derby and he told me he is, "looking for my vote."
I advised him courteously that I "would probably never vote for Labour again even though I have done in the past." I was practising my right to abstain from voting.
I explained why I have come to this conclusion, the main reasons being the conduct of Tony Blair and the war in Iraq.
I told him that the, "Iraq war was not worth it because it has lead to anarchy; there was the 1990 conflict and the 2003 conflict but also 10 years of sanctions which killed a lot of Iraqi children and innocent civilians."
He admitted they were "wrong about the WMD's," but asked me to "speak to ordinary Iraqi's to see what they think." I had spoken to them and some agree Iraq is better off without Saddam Hussein and I do not disagree wit this, but I argued the "cost [of human life] was not worth it." Years of tyranny is worse than a single year of anarchy.
I even got to mention "that doctor" who committed suicide (Jack Straw kindly reminded me of his name, Dr Kelly), got my mention of Alistair Campbell having too much power in the past and the fact that Tony Blair on too many occasions was found to be lying. I did say it seemed that "Tony Blair had lost his fear of lying." I explained, "whether the media is to blame for this perception or not I don't know". My father who was also with me, explained "politics is lying," but Jack Straw replied strongly, "no, politics is not about lying" defended his colleagues Tony Blair, Magaret Beckett (local MP) who he said, "would not lie" in such a manner.
The rebuttal to the stance taken on going to Iraq was incredibly weak; if not the WMD's then the thing to remember was, "the region was going downhill," according to Jack Straw but even he conceded he was speculating and, "no one knows the future". I do get a sense in his past interviews and speaking to him today that privately Jack Straw was not that keen on preemptively invading Iraq. But this is speculation on my part and until Jack Straw retires and pens his auto-biography some safe distance in the future and decides to speak about his personal convictions on the war in Iraq we will never know what he truly feels. Maybe that is what I am supposed to feel.
This was all in 5 minutes of conversation, and subhan'Allah all done to get my vote.
Has it changed my opinion of Labour? Not really, Labour as a party is not my main gripe. Has it changed my opinion of Jack Straw? Again not really, I never had any problems with him and found he was very straight forward in most of his interviews on TV that I have seen. I would say meeting him and being given the chance to air my views has increased my opinion of Jack Straw. I wish I could have mentioned the Save the Hijaz website and appeal but this was not the time or place.
Has it changed my opinion of Tony Blair? No, I still think he is a bold faced liar and would not shy away from saying it to his face. He has only himself to blame for this opinion as on several occasions he has not done his own image and respect any favours. It doesn't matter in any case since Blair is on his way out of government soon (and not a moment too soon - I wish he would leave his office tomorrow). Will I vote for Labour again? At the moment my answer is still, "No!" but in the future perhaps I will.
What I did take away from this conversation was that I was listened to by someone who is very high in governmental power. Perhaps I should have invited him to Islam too - but 5 minutes is a bit short notice.
A conversation with Jack Straw outside my house.
Praise be to Allah for giving me this chance Ya Rabb.
Update (24/04/2006): The circumstances regarding this visit by Jack Straw are that he was in the Derby area from his home constituency of Blackburn. Only two days before he was speaking to the King and Princes of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh. On his Derby visit Jack Straw was with a local Labour councillor for my ward who is a Muslim. My father and I were doing some DIY when I saw a gang of people walking purposefully and quickly carrying Labour banners on my street and to my surprise there was Jack Straw amongst them in the middle. I mentioned this to my father and smiled, Jack Straw noticed me as there was no one else out on the street since it was raining. He raised his hand and said, "Hi" and I returned the gesture with a, "Hi" back. To my surprise Jack Straw changed direction and crossed the road to speak to me. And then the above unfoled. Whilst talking to Jack Straw I became aware that he was surrounded by his colleagues and maybe for his protection other people too. And the rest is of course history.
It is unsurprising to note that the Iran issue is the new news now (remember the Axis of Evil?) and Jack Straw as well as the foreign office lawyers are opposed to any idea of military action. Foreign office lawyers have declared any military action against Iran to be illegal. This whole issue has a distinct sense of deja vu and unfortunately Blair has given Bush his unilateral support (again). It is true that we humans are too stupid to make new mistakes. Instead we make the same ones again and again throughout our short lives.
NB I have updated the main piece for grammatical and clarity errors also. My thanks to the DP brothers for the links in the update.
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