Iraq War Inquiry in Westminster, London:
Tony Blair has spent the day Friday on the dock, defending his aggressive deceitful actions in misleading the Parliament in his sexed up case for war in Iraq, saying, he would make the same choices again today.
He would take us to war without evidence of WMDs again today…
He would send the troops and your children to war against the MONSTER…
Never mind the Seven hundred thousand dead people including the 189 soldiers from across Britain.
He would sacrifice them all over again for he was a scardy cat – scared from the Monster – bullied by GW.
To be unable to say a simple “I am Sorry” for all these souls sacrificed to the egotistic war in Iraq is a new low in human history.
The former prime minister said Saddam Hussein was a “monster” and that he had “no regrets” about removing him. This is the first time TB asserts the brand New Political Doctrine of ”the Monster.”
A historical moment to be sure…
The ”Monster” Justification for Aggression and going to war.
This new tactic follows what he had said to Fern Britton on BBC TV interview last Summer ”that even if there were no WMDs he would have invented another reason to go to war in Iraq…”
Remember the word: ”Invented” the reason… to go to war.
So now TB came up with [wait for the music] taaaa daaahhhhh … ”THE MONSTER”
The monster ?
Is that the best TB can do now?
The new political doctrine for aggressive war is : The Monster ?
I think He is losing it….
He must stop watching day time TV.
The monster truck races are going to his head and disturbing his peaceful sleep.
Call the Doctor – the spin doctor – I mean.
The Monster?
I think we should withhold comment for now.
Withhold comment while we are waiting for a proper Freudian to explain that one….
Meanwhile in this surreal inquiry of ”Les Invalids” against ”L enfant terrible” there are new developments.
For as long as ”the Monster” flies it will make new ground in international law.
Following closely upon that Realpolitik doctrine – I have a little WAR to sell to you:
The Monster Alien war – Against the monster that stole my cheese….
Not so good eh?
My 3 year old can do better than that.
Frequently the Monster steals his lollipop…
Can we have a war please?
Call the MoD straightaways.
Ring…..
Pronto?
Yes the Italian MOD. Correct. The one that answers. That’s where our Tony belongs. Along those heroic souls led by the great Caballero who fought against the flying toy cathedral and won.
This Monster shit of a defense belongs only to Sylvio [Caballero Extraordinaire] Berlusconi.
I see his handwriting here… followed by a plastic toy cathedral flying in our direction…
It’s the company you keep Tony that makes you stupid.
First George, now Sylvio, what next? back to Gaddafi? With that kind of friends – who needs enemies?
Gaddafi…. Now that one is the Freudians really want to study.
Tony, can you arrange it for a small commission?
We’ll do lunch.
Meanwhile back in London dock of the Iraq war inquiry… [This is not a trial Johnny Chilcot, basked in glory having let his special guest go home unscathed and unblemished from the soft balls thrown his way]
But the families of his British soldiers victims were not as soft as Johhnny on him. For as Mr Blair was leaving the Iraq war inquiry room’s easy chair he occuppied for three hours, they shouted that he was “a liar” and a “murderer”.
He was apparently unperturbed…
Here are some other general reactions to the former prime minister’s evidence.
First off an American gives his take.
A moustachioed American [who looked like John Bolton but I couldn't be sure] outside the inquiry, said:
I have a job for Mr Blair if he would have it… The American wanted to wage a small war against his neighbours in Zimbabwae and thought to offer the man the job since TB is terminally unemployed.
And now He can make a good case against the Monsters…. he can take on the squatters who have been ravaging his giant industrial scale farm in the country.
We all know the Zanu PF people are monsters, he said. So is their leader the infamous Mugabe. Let’s go get him… [Can't say if ''John'' was earnest or not but does strike me like a joker]
Then a father of a soldier who died in Iraq, Reg Keyes said:
“He [Mr Blair] had an opportunity to apply some soothing balm to some of the open wounds of grief that were in that room. I saw a couple of mothers in there break down at the end in tears because the man, all he had to say, to assuage the grief, was ‘I do regret the loss of life’, but he was quite remorseless, no regret at all.
So said Reginald Keyes who lost his soldier son in the war…
“And I just can’t comprehend the sheer incompetence of the MOD planning. OK, the world might be a better place without Saddam, but Tony Blair went about it in completely the wrong way with the misleading of Parliament, with not going down the UN path, with not getting full legal backing for the war.
“And then the incompetence where he said he was surprised, in there, at the Iranian influence after the invasion. And also that al-Qaeda moved in. For goodness sake, what does the man expect? The local darts team down the pub could have told him that.
“Here is a man with a wealth of Middle Eastern experts at his fingertips, yet he chose to ignore all the advice and steamroller in. It had something of the flavour of a runaway train, he’d gone along with it and he couldn’t stop it.”
A distinguished journalist Paul Reynolds of BBC said:
”Mr Blair was not challenged on the legality of the war nor on the Terrorist threat at all and was allowed to leave the impression on several occasions that Saddam was rebuilding his weapons of mass destruction around the time of 9/11.
It is true that the ISG made a determination that Saddam would have tried to reconstitute his WMD if sanctions had been lifted, and Mr Blair made great play of this finding, which is indeed not always mentioned in this debate.
The ISG said: “His lieutenants understood WMD revival was his goal from their long association with Saddam and his infrequent, but firm, verbal comments and directions to them.”
But that is not quite the same as giving the impression that Saddam already had them by 9/11.
He was also not challenged in detail about how Saddam could be a terrorist threat when, as Britain accepted, he had had nothing to do with al-Qaeda and 9/11.
The ISG concluded that Saddam’s main concern in possibly regaining such weapons was Iran: “Iran was the pre-eminent motivator of this policy. All senior level Iraqi officials considered Iran to be Iraq’s principal enemy in the region.”
The inquiry could ask Mr Blair back in order to follow up some of these points. But time was limited and although several lines of questioning were quite persistent (about post-invasion chaos for example), he held his ground.
The Tony Blair of today is the same as the Tony Blair of yesterday.”
David Cameron, leader of the Tories and arch conservative candidate for Prime Minister in the next general elections, notoriously cagy about anything war related said very little.
David hedges his comments, but especially now, since He and his party were some of the strongest supporters of the war, and that’s how he comments on Mr Blair’s Performance:
“I think the whole point of having a full-scale, proper inquiry with proper public sessions, proper discovery of papers – all of which, by the way, the Conservative Party called for – is to get to the truth about these issues.
“Clearly, some of the information that was put in front of Parliament – the ‘dodgy dossier’ for instance – was just unacceptable and was wrong and shouldn’t happen again, but I think we have to wait for Chilcot’s full report before we come to a full conclusion.”
Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem, has taken a rather more direct attack route: “I’m not sure if people have learned that much which is substantially new from Tony Blair today, and I’ve been quite critical about the way in which the inquiry has been set up. I don’t think it’s been open and public enough.
“But I think it’s a good thing that – as the prime minister who took us to war seven years ago – he is now there in public, justifying what I regard as the unjustifiable. Because that makes it all the more difficult for Britain ever to be taken to war again, simply on the personal whim of the prime minister. That must never be allowed to happen again.”
David Milliband, TB’s favourite whipping boy had this to say: “I think we have had months of allegations, notably against the former prime minister, Tony Blair, and today for the first time you’ve got a proper explanation and people are going to be able to see the difference between allegations – many of them based on conspiracy theories – and explanation based on facts.
“And that, I think, will allow people to see the basis on which decisions were made, the basis on which judgements were made.”
The one Labour MP who voted against the war Chris Mullin had this to say:
“I think he [Mr Blair] believed as a matter of principle that you had to keep in with the Americans at all costs, and I certainly think that was his view after 9/11 – and therefore he was almost unequivocal, no, he was unequivocal, in his public support for the Americans.
“I think he took the view that providing you remained absolutely on their side from the outset you could, behind the scenes, exercise a bit of influence and I think undoubtedly, for example, he did persuade the Americans to go down the United Nations route, which I’m sure they weren’t intending to do at first.
“My biggest regret is that – and it’s his biggest mistake – is that he linked us umbilically to the worst American president in my lifetime.”
A participant from the dead soldiers families James Sadri who attended the proceedings and heckled TB – had this to say:
“It was just the kind of audacity of Tony Blair to talk openly about the fact that 700,000 people, that he would accept have died, have been killed and have no regrets about it.
“I think a lot of people in the room were feeling really frustrated, but the kind of atmosphere was really quiet and serious and people felt they couldn’t say anything.
“I was just amazed, you know. He was asked directly, do you have any regrets? And he said, no, he doesn’t have any regrets. And frankly I am absolutely shocked at what the inquiry let him get away with.”
Yours,
Pano
PS:
It was all about keeping up with the Joneses.
The American Joneses that is.
Keep up with the cowboys and You might get a pony is the deal George promised TB and the halfwit believed it.
He got the pony all right.
He is still riding that rocking horse when mama Sherri puts him to sleep at night.
Ah… and let’s not forget the Monster hiding in the closet or under the bed.
She’s got to shoo those away too. Tough mothering is what’s needed here.
Where is Maggie ?
Good night Tony and Good Luck.
