The BBC are reporting that the ABC “says he may yet regret not doing more to oppose the Iraq war”.
Here are his exact words:
Williams: I said before the war began that I had grave reservations about the morality of it and I think the moral and the practical flaws have emerged as time has gone on; quite painfully and they’ve put our own troops increasingly at risk in ways that I find deeply disturbing as someone with friends in the military, as many people must have, and family members.
Interviewer: Do you think that, looking back over the past few years, you could have been stronger in what you said on that subject and that it might have made a difference?
Williams: I can’t easily balance for myself the pros and cons of thinking, “well, putting yourself at the head of a popular movement and resisting” – although that might have been effective or “that just becomes words, that just becomes noise”. I said what I believed I needed to say. I shall have to think quite a long time as to whether I ought to have said more – or less, for that matter.
Fair enough, but consider this minor happening the same year that the USA invaded Iraq:
Somehow I don’t think we’re ever going to hear Williams say this in an interview:
Williams: I said before the consecration of Gene Robinson that I had grave reservations about the morality of it and I think the moral and the practical flaws have emerged as time has gone on; quite painfully and they’ve put our own Christian brothers and sisters in muslim nations increasingly at risk in ways that I find deeply disturbing as someone with Christian family in those places, as all Christians must have.
Interviewer: Do you think that, looking back over the past few years, you could have been stronger in what you said on that subject and that it might have made a difference?
Williams: I can’t easily balance for myself the pros and cons of thinking, “well, putting yourself at the head of a popular movement and resisting” – although that might have been effective or “that just becomes words, that just becomes noise”. I said what I believed I needed to say. I shall have to think quite a long time as to whether I ought to have said more – or less, for that matter.
Indeed, quite a lot of thinking time might be needed.
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