see url: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36733979
I hate to kick a man when he is down...but...Whatever. He and George
Bush and both the US and UK administrations were responsible for a lot
of deaths and carnage in Iraq, and the aftermath, what is going on now
isn't exactly a better world, in my view. Blair did it in the teeth of
opposition from his own party, his own parliament, and the British
people, who just didn't believe it about the WMDs. The interview on BBC
this morning was hard to take. He said he was sorry, he took
responsibility, but for what? Every time he was asked the question, be
it WMDs, the sources of Intelligence, the UN resolutions not mandating
him for military action, the fact that regime change is not a tool of
the UN, or the meaning of the emails between him and Bush, were
misinterpreted and the whole caboodle was someone elses fault, he was
misled by everyone, even his government lawyer, who said it the war
wouldn't be legal without another UN resolution. Hindsight is OK, but he
believed that what he did was right, at the time...and now. According
to Blair, Iraq now has a fully functioning democracy, and the world is a
better place without Saddam Hussein. Oil prices are low, and terrorism
and ISIS and Al Qaeda and Syria and Iran would be a lot worse, if it
hadn't been for Blair and Bush. Absolutely no sign of contrition, no
sign of taking the blame...No sign of a guilty conscience, from a man
who took up the Catholic faith. One wonders what he says at confession.
Never mind the 4,491 US troops, or the 179 UK troops dying, many of them
due to a lack of proper equipment. It had nuffink to do with Blair. He
gave them everything they asked for.
see url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War
see url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Frum
A speech writer for Bush, a guy called Frum, who was the inventor of the
phrase "Axis of Evil" in relation to the enemy at the time; said on the
BBC Radio 4 this morning that neither the USA or the UK governments were
responsible for the present day carnage in Iraq, and that he was not
responsible for George Bush adopting the phrase he invented. It was
Bush's choice. Frum said it was the Iraqis who were and are responsible
for blowing each other to bits, the chaos, the rapes, the pillage, the
murders, the gangs, the looting, the assassination gangs, the religious
militias; which took place after the "Mission Accomplished" flag was
flown, and the Iraq army demolished with nothing put in its place, were
not factors which could be blamed on the US or UK. the 100's of 1000s
of Iraqis who died is hardly mentioned. None of this had anything to
do with the USA or the UK. After the war, the Iraqis had control of
their own destiny, and chose not to operate it. "Whatever".
Well, it is one view of history I suppose...but certainly not mine..
ATB
Dougie.