House of Commons Speech - October 2002
There's an old story about Oliver Cromwell. After he had taken the town of Drogheda the citizens were brought to the main square. Cromwell announced to his Lieutenants: "Right! Kill all the women and rape all the men." One of his aides said: "Excuse me General. Isn't it the other way around?" A voice from the crowd called out: "Mr. Cromwell knows what he's doing!"
That voice is the voice of Tony Blair "Mr Bush knows what he's doing!" But the fact is that Mr Bush and his gang do know what they're doing and Blair, unless he really is the deluded idiot he often appears to be, also knows what they're doing. They are determined, quite simply, to control the world and the world's resources. And they don't give a damn how many people they murder on the way. And Blair goes along with it.
— Harold Pinter House of Commons Speech
— Also: Death etc. - Harold Pinter - Google Books
I've seen a few versions of jokes with a similar premise, but but none that refer to Oliver Cromwell.
Did Pintor make up this "old story" specifically for this speech, and if so, why choose Cromwell?
