David Miliband: Does it matter?

Does it matter that David Miliband is the ‘heir to Blair‘? Does it matter that David Miliband is thought of as a war criminal?  Does it matter in moral or political terms?

Mr Miliband says his insistence on “due diligence” in high office means his conscience is clear over allegations of a torture “cover-up”, which persist after the last government lost a court battle to prevent the publication of American intelligence reports covering the treatment of Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed by the US in Pakistan in April 2002.

The Liberal Democrats are preparing to use next month’s party conference to embarrass Mr Miliband in a debate claiming Labour “backed” human rights abuses by the Bush administration, including “enforced disappearance, rendition and torture”. Mr Cameron announced a judicial inquiry into Britain’s role in torture and rendition – something Mr Miliband had resisted in his time in office.

As HarpyMarx states:

To supporters of Miliband the elder, ask yourself, how can you back someone whowhinges and whines about the obsession with Iraq, and was complicit in torture who desperately sought through the courts to obstruct and to further cover it up? Do you want this man with blood on his hands to become leader of the Labour Party? Have you  learned nothing from the warmongering and neoliberalism of Blair and Brown? Are you intent on sleepwalking to the election by voting for a man who wants to revamp New Labour, different face same politics (“We don’t need to rewrite Clause IV. We do need a leader who puts it into practice with verve and imagination”…)?

Does it matter whether the next leader of the Labour Party is another war criminal or are there other things that matter more?

If you would like to vote in the leadership election you have until September 8th to join the party.