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Aznar, 5 years after the invasion of Iraq: “this is a very good situation”

So the present day situation in Iraq, five years after the invasion of that country, is “very good”, according to Aznar…

I’ll forgive him his embarrassingly poor command of English, but not his flouting of common sense and decency.

Here’s the transcript of the corresponding section:

[Presenter of Broadcasting House] Paddy O’Connell: Um, it’s eh, five to ten. Just days before the invasion of Iraq five years ago, Britain, the US and Spain held a summit on the Azores in the mid-Atlantic. It was an odd event: the meeting lasted only one hour. The three leaders - George Bush, Tony Blair, José María Aznar - came out saying that this was the last chance for Saddam Hussein to comply with UN resolutions. They gave him one more day. In the latest of her reports on the countdown to war, here on Radio 4, Sanchia Berg talked to Spain’s then Prime Minister.

[Sound of Big Ben]

[Unidentified female voice] The leaders of the United States, Britain, and Spain are in the Azores for a summit being billed as the last chance for peace with Iraq, but the pressure for war appears irresistible.

Sanchia Berg: José María Aznar recalls that meeting as “tranquil”.

José María Aznar: Very simple, very short, tranquil, and then we have a dinner with more time to talk about different questions. But I remember this, eh, meeting with special intensity, because for the world, for the people, for us, is momentous.

[Unidentified male voice] As the three leaders arrived here at the largest field airbase for their face-to-face mid-Atlantic rendez-vous, the signs were growing all the time that they believe diplomacy and the weapons inspections in Iraq have run their course.

JMA: Very strong commitment. A very strong personal relationship, eh…

SB: [interrupts] Between you and Blair…

JMA: …yeah, yeah…

SB: …or between you and Bush?

JMA: Yeah, the three. And very serious conviction that we have reason. That we act in the interest of a lot of people, no? And ah we must take a very difficult decision, ma [sic - he's apparently throwing in the Italian word for 'but'] this is our responsibility. The destiny in the Middle East is extremely important for we Europeans, this is extremely important for a Spaniard, to establish a very close and solid alliance eh with our friends, no?

[Unidentified male voice] If the President and the Prime Minister were serious about finding a peaceful solution, he’d be in New York talking to Khofi Annan, not talking to each other in the Azores.

[applause]

[Unidentified male voice] Iraq there was using the next few days to try to persuade the weapons inspectors, and by extension the Security Council, that it is clean of biological and chemical weapons. Of course, President Saddam Hussein made clear to his army command, it’s also using that time to make the final preparations for war.

JMA: The world is better without Taliban, and the world is better without Saddam Hussein. Eh, all the problems have disappeared in the world? No. Simply, is better. It is the responsibility for reasonable leaders.

SB: Even though the situation in Iraq is difficult, more difficult for many ordinary Iraquis?

JMA: Bad in this moment [sic], it’s true. But is less difficult than in the times of sam-Saddam Hussein. The people can participate in, in an election, the people can speak free [sic], there is freedom in the country, there is possibility to establish a democracy in the country, the security is better. Is not a idyllic situation, but this is a very good situation.

[Unidentified male voice] Tony Blair, President Bush and the Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar have given Saddam Hussein one last chance to disarm, and the United Nations one more day to agree to a fresh resolution on Iraq. After a summit in the Azores that lasted little more than an hour, President Bush said it would be clear by the end of tomorrow whether diplomacy would work. It was, he warned, a moment of truth for the world.

SB: When you look back on that summit, on that time, is there anything that you wish you’d done differently? Do you wish for example that more time had been given to Saddam Hussein?

JMA: No. Really, I-I acted, eh, I will act in the same form. But, well, this is very difficult moment, for me, per-personally, but if my conviction, and my… conscience, my mind, is clear. We take the right decision.

Paddy O’Connell: Sanchia Berg reporting.

In case you’re not entirely sure whether you should trust either your own darn lying eyes or my transcription abilities, here’s the audio recording of the corresponding segment, snagged from the BBC’s Radio 4 Sunday program Broadcasting House: