September 30 1924
Mr Leach Explains: Use of Bombs in Iraq “for Civilising Purposes: “Still a Pacifist”
Mr William Leach, Under-Secretary for Air, addressing the members of the Bradford Independent Labour Party last night, said it was not true that he had changed his convictions. He had never been asked by anybody to resign.
“I am still a Pacifist”, he declared. “I have slaughtered nobody. I have caused nobody to be slaughtered”. He added that when the Prime Minister offered him the position he would not have left Mr [Ramsay] MacDonald in the lurch. Mr MacDonald was the greatest Prime Minister the country had ever known, and whether the country realised it or not, the rest of Europe knew it.
The Government, in accepting office, had to run the fighting services with some measure of faithfulness and meanwhile to preach the gospel of peace and disarmament to the other nations.
The situation when Labour came into office was that it had been found there was no longer need to sacrifice British lives in Iraq, and that it was cheaper and more effective to use the air weapon.
Referring to the pledges to the League of Nations in respect of Iraq, he said that we could not clear out of Iraq so long as the mandate from the League remained in force. The Labour Government had thoroughly disliked, and the airmen also disliked, to see the air weapon used for civilising purposes. After discussing the problem with the authorities on the spot, the Government laid down conditions which had been rigidly observed – namely, that the air weapon must not be used except at the request of the Iraq authorities; that the High Commissioner on the spot should personally examine the circumstances; that the officer commanding should go into the facts, and that the weapon should not be used without a warning notice.
In five cases out of six when a difficulty had arisen the warning had been effective without using the air weapon. That weapon had been used five times, and had been successful without taking a single life. If he could see any better way than the present of solving those difficulties, he would adopt it, but it was for those who saw a better way to tell him.
