Leading article: Haunted by Iraq

When Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland Secretary, laid into US foreign policy in an interview with the New Statesman magazine, he knew exactly what he was doing. He was trying to appeal to the anti-American wing of the Labour Party and ingratiate himself with those who had opposed the Iraq war. It was the latest campaign pitch in his bid to be the next deputy leader of the Labour Party.

Mr Hain's invective was fierce. "The neo-con mission," he said, "has failed. It's not only failed to provide a coherent international policy, it's failed wherever it's been tried, and it's failed with the American electorate." It had also, he added, damaged the fight against global terrorism and distracted the world from solving the conflict in the Middle East.

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We would dissent from none of this. There is, though, one small problem. Where was Mr Hain's bold perceptiveness, where was his confident judgement, at the time when it was really needed? Why was he not up there with Robin Cook and - belatedly - Clare Short in questioning the Iraq adventure from the start? Neither President Bush nor the "neo-cons" were exactly secretive about their intentions. The misguided nature of their ideas were plain. So was the risk that Iraq would distract the West from seeking progress in the Middle East. Mr Hain, like so many, went along with Mr Blair and the cabinet consensus.

The Iraq disaster is returning to haunt not just Mr Hain. Every candidate for the Labour deputy leadership - and for the leadership, were there to be a real contest - has some explaining to do. Mr Hain's no-holds-barred attack on the Bush administration as "the most right-wing" in living memory may attract some lukewarm applause, but it does not really do the job. Hilary Benn, the International Development Secretary, speaking to the Fabian Society, tackled the same problem more convincingly, with a frank admission that Iraq was a mess, that grave errors were made, and that lessons had to be learnt. As he acknowledged, there was a "huge well of bitterness" in the party, and more than a little humility is in order.

Mr Hain might seem a plausible contender for the Labour deputy leadership. He has not been a bad Northern Ireland Secretary. He is personable. He has a near-legendary past as an anti-apartheid campaigner, and he was a Foreign Office minister when the late Robin Cook promised an ethical dimension to Britain's foreign policy. He has a good deal of political capital to call on. But his diatribe against the United States and the neo-cons was a cheap and unconvincing attempt to diminish his own responsibility; it will do nothing to help his cause.