Posted on 08/06/2005 7:58:18 PM PDT by buccaneer81
Robin Cook
LONDON (AP) -- Former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, who quit Prime Minister Tony Blair's Cabinet in 2003 to protest the Iraq war, died Saturday after collapsing on a Scottish mountain while walking with his wife. He was 59.
Scotland's Northern Constabulary said Cook collapsed on Ben Stack mountain in the Scottish Highlands. He was taken by coast guard helicopter to a hospital in Inverness, where he was pronounced dead.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, filling in for a vacationing Blair, said Cook was "the greatest parliamentarian of his generation."
"He also made an enormous contribution to British politics in opposition and in government," Prescott said.
Cook served as foreign minister in 1997-2001 before being demoted to leader of the House of Commons. His resignation speech, days before the Iraq war began in March 2003, received a rare standing ovation from lawmakers.
"Why is it now so urgent that we should take military action to disarm a military capacity that has been there for 20 years, and which we helped to create?" he said.
Renowned as an intelligent lawmaker and skilled debater, Cook remained a high-profile figure despite his withdrawal from government, and he became an increasingly vocal opponent of Blair's policies.
Some supporters believed Cook should have been leader of the Labour Party. But opponents saw him as arrogant and distant.
A lawmaker since 1974, Cook - a short, bearded redhead - declined to oppose Blair when he was elected Labour leader in 1994, declaring: "I am not good-looking enough."
Instead, Cook accepted the post of foreign secretary following the landslide election victory that made Blair prime minister in 1997.
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Bush's fault, I guess.
That's not particularly old. Well, he went far in the relatively short time he had.
At least his family will be comforted by knowing that Saddam is still alive.
Good riddance, socialist scumbag.
No, Bush did it. Get it straight.
Kinda sounds like he was offed,Where was Karl Rove?
He's dead, Jim. He apparently was on the wrong team.
Peyton,
That was a really funny joke. I'm still laughing.
I wonder if critics of the Iraq war ever stop to consider that without it, Saddam and his two darling children would still be in charge (raping women, supporting terrorism, and making us all uneasy as they continuously snubbed the UN), not to mention the Oil-for Food scandal would still be going strong.
Surprising news. He was not that old. Politically he stuck to his guns, even if his ideology took precedent over the real world.
Please, no more snide comments....WE ARE NOT DU!
Prayers for his family
___________________________________________________________
I agree. His death is a shock and his family must be devastated.
Great-- I can hear the moonbats screeching now!!!
Thank you for posting that, Talking Mouse.
I am disgusted with some of the comments and this and other threads.
This man was not, by any stretch of the imagination, of our political flavour.
However he was, that rarest of things, an honest politician and a man of integrity.
May he rest in peace.
If only the same thing would happen to George Galloway...
Agreed-we have a few people like him left in the US, as well-Barney Frank comes to mind. He's as gay as a tangerine and I can't stand his politics, but he's honest. As was the late Patrick Moynihan.
predictably,his fellow politicians, are calling him "dignified and principled".Liberals,are by definition hypocrits.This fellow was typical,dumping
his wife in a shock scandal,while pretending to be morally superior
to Blair and Bush. A sort of newt Gingridge in the UK.
But wifey took revenge,long before he croaked,
writing several books exposing his deceit
A Slight and Delicate Creature: The Memoirs of Margaret Cook
Are their any comments by Cook after the London bombings?
I am curious to know how he felt about that.
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