. . . a separate issue, upon which Blair is terribly culpable; more terribly culpable than any PM before or since.[1] We know for sure now and had indications at the time that Blair’s reasons for taking our country to war were not those which he deemed to share with the country or with parliament. [2] They were not shared because he was well aware that neither public nor parliamentary opinion would go along with him. And in attempting to convince the public of Saddam’s ownership of WMD he misled parliament, misled the public and pressurised, perverted or twisted every institution which might have acted as a check upon his messianic determination to wage war.[3] This included the select committees, the civil service, the security services, the government scientists and even in the end the BBC. Cabinet was ignored. As John Denham put it at the time, Blair demanded evidence of WMD regardless or not of whether WMD existed. This is incontestable; it is the subtext of all those Blair year diaries produced by the either supine, or in Alastair Campbell’s case, conniving, former members of the administration. I do not think it is stretching it to suggest that this was the closest Britain has come to totalitarianism.[4] Regardless or not of whether we were right to have invaded Iraq, we were lied to, repeatedly and the processes corrupted.1. Ludicrous hyperbole. Judged by the consequences, Asquith and the secret agreement with France that led to Britain declaring war in 1914 makes Blair's commitment to Bush seem a minor lapse.
2. Untrue. He made his moral position perfectly clear long before cooking up the WMD subterfuge. He also explicitly stated that he regarded the USA as the only hope of realizing his hopes for a better world.
3. Not limited to the Iraq war. It was under Blair, not Brown, that England's ancient liberties were fatally undermined, applauded by such Labour party "moderates" as the cuckold Alan Johnson and absolutely NOT denounced with appropriate vehemence by the journopukes of Britain.
4. What makes Liddle think the danger is past? Our whole society has become corrupted, and a people without virtue not only cannot be, but does not deserve to be, free.
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Blair was looking down the road past Saddam - and as he said, he knew Bush was determined upon the war
ReplyDeleteno matter what the British did - to the post-Saddam Iraq, the oil and the future stake which America would/might share with Britain.
I dare say it was unimagineable to Blair that the Americans would botch up the aftermath so badly, would have literally no plan, a confused line of command, contradictory policies,incredibly bad advice from 'their'Iraqui principal who turned out to be an Iranian agent of influence etc.
He just bet on the wrong horse.
Agreed, agreed, agreed. Nobody (I speak from the wound) could have imagined that, as a result of a turf war between Rumsfeld and Powell, the US would go into Iraq without any plan whatever for what to do after knocking over Saddam. A clusterfuck, and Blair was in too deep to back out.
ReplyDeleteIf I were Blair I'd have said to to the Chill-out Enquiry and anybody else:
ReplyDelete" I firmly believed, and had every reason to believe, Saddam had WMD because I knew that British companies with the blessing of my predecessors, and French companies with the encouragement of the Chief Frog had sold him the parts. The fact that he lost the kit or had mislaid the instructions is neither here or there.
As a Game Show Host manqué whose only work experience before taking on the UK Premiership was a little light barristering, I have never adequately prepared for anything in my life."
LOL. His ability to convince himself of the moral righteousness of whatever best suited him was always his greatest strength
ReplyDelete