Comments on: Blair faced cheek

By: download by megauplo

download by megauplo — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:37:15 +0000

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By: George

George — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:16:02 +0000

I believe its inquiry – not enquiry.

By: Kevin Peat

Kevin Peat — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:40:00 +0000

"We made Britain safer by deposing Saddam."

Of course making Britain safer was at the bottom of giving up control of our borders.

By: Citizen Responsible

Citizen Responsible — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 12:39:10 +0000

Good point. NATO’s bombing campaign of Serbia in 1999 was a disgrace. We were first told it would last for a few days and the targets would be air defense and military. The bombing actually went on for 10 weeks and also hit factories, bridges, the state television broadcasting tower and other civilian targets. The Serbs retaliated and in a matter of days hundreds of thousands of Kosovo Albanians fled their homes. Tony Blair then used the huge refugee crisis as justification for bombing when in fact it was the cause of the crisis. An unjust war indeed.

By: Citizen Responsible

Citizen Responsible — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 11:34:37 +0000

I remember in the build up to the invasion, John Major and Paddy Ashdown in separate interviews on the box calling for some planning and detail about how the allies were going to govern Iraq in the aftermath of the war. Looking back it’s clear they could see both there was no planning.

By: backofanenvelope

backofanenvelope — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 09:03:54 +0000

There is, of course, the possibility that the Intelligence agencies told Blair there were no WMD. My experience as an intelligence officer taught me that the recipients of my analytic efforts often had other ideas.

By: Stuart Fairney

Stuart Fairney — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 07:49:47 +0000

A very real (if very, very sad) point, we were beaten in Basra. Nobody admits this.

By: ikh

ikh — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 02:25:33 +0000

>why Mr Blair was so keen on going to war.

I always thought this was obvious, the motivation clear, but as I have never seen anyone else say it, I'm no longer so sure. Anyway, here goes.

Mrs T had a 'Good' war with the Falklands and it gave her a huge electoral boost. John Major had a 'Good' Gulf war 1 in 1991 and won the following election. I think Tony Blair wanted a good war. The Balkan war was just seen as a police action and so did not count. So when the possibility of Gulf war two came up he jumped at it with both feet.

This may not have been his sole motivation but I suspect it was his primary motivation. He dreamed of having a victory parade like after the Falklands War.

This is why the F.O. legal opinion was overridden and why the AG had his arms twisted behind his back to give the go ahead. I suspect that a small cabal of senior Cabinet Ministers were in on the idea that this would give Labour a huge electoral advantage and that was enough to carry most of the rest of the Cabinet ( with notable exceptions )

After Mrs T was deposed, commentators eulogised Mrs T and placed her ( rightly IMHO ) on a pedestal next to Winston Churchill, as one of the great Prime Ministers of this country. Tony Blair wanted to be ranked along side them. This is why when Gordon tried to depose him he clung on for grim death to get his 10 years.

Sadly, I think we went to war for one man's ego.

/ikh

By: John Broughton

John Broughton — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:28:12 +0000

My first question as soon as it was evident we would take action was what happens after the victory.

How is it that we could launch a war with no coherent plan as to how the country subsequently?

By: JohnRS

JohnRS — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:57:47 +0000

Your three questions, if asked and pursued, would really get to the core issues.

Unfortunately the members of the committee are all "good solid chaps" who know what they're there for. It's all very friendly so as not to upset anyone or let the light shine too brightly into any dark corners. I suspect your questions will remain unanswered.