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Damning indictment of Blair, military and intelligence chiefs and criminally compliant MPs. That's the conclusion of the Chilcot report into Britain's role in the Iraqi invasion.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...s-of-iraq-war-victims-react-to-chilcot-report
Eight months before the invasion took place, and months even before he'd had detailed briefings on practicalities and WMD inspections, Blair agreed to support Bush's neo-con adventure unreservedly. The phrase that will act as Blair's epitaph into history is "With you, whatever."
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...blair-epitaph-writers-verdicts-chilcot-report
No doubt the parliamentary reaction to the report will be to play down every damning detail and soft-soap the unavoidable conclusion that the British political and military establishment made the biggest blunder since appeasement in the 1930s. Once again, Jeremy Corbyn speaks for the unheard and ignored mass of British people who fiercely opposed Blair's rush to war. And once again, the Blairite wing of the party shows how out of touch it is by heckling their leader's speech to the Commons.
Jeremy Corbyn told to 'sit down and shut up' in Commons as he criticises Iraq War after publication of Chilcot report | UK Politics | News | The Independent
You know, between January 3 and April 12, 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 anti‑war protests and the demonstrations on February 15, 2003 in London still remain the largest political demonstration in the city's history.
It fell on deaf ears. Blair never listened and the invasion of Iraq began just over a month later. It’s difficult to accept that such a united display of people power on Feb,15 could have proven to be so ineffectual and was so easily disregarded and ignored.
and Blair remains true to form, emitting a crocodile's tears apology to then embark on his usual path of prevarication.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/06/tony-blair-deliberately-exaggerated-threat-from-iraq-chilcot-report-war-inquiry
He must be truly delusional by now if he still believes he can talk himself into being "one of the great good ones" in history.
He'd do it again and said as much.
O’Connor does her brother a disservice. He knew the risk we all did and no one put a gun to his head forcing him to join.
Wow! What an amazing edition of Newsnight I've been watching. It just ended on Robin Cook's resignation speech. It's featured wonderful, honest and telling contributions from Tory MP Rory Stewart, academic Will Self
and journalist Roula Khalaf.
If anyone's engaged with this issue I'd really advise them to watch it on the BBC iPlayer if they can, and on YouTube when it reaches it.
What's Newsnight? I've never heard of it.
In what sense? How do you want things to work out?I want blood.
And what do you hope for him? I sincerely hope his commanders don't defer unquestioningly to political expediency as I just watched the leader of British military forces do this evening.I also have a son who will become an active USA officer in a year, and has since the age of 7 wanted to be a combat officer.
Unfortunately, I think that Blair had by that time become cocooned in a bubble of group think driven by a false, over enthusiastic desire to back up the US position no matter what, a refusal to listen to conflicting advice, the over-reliance on inaccurate intelligence, and a complete disregard for public sentiment or support for his actions.
I went on that march. We were all blown away by the unanimity of the public opinion on the war. I think UK opinion was about 70%+ against the war. I also think we all thought, "There's no way Blair can refuse to take notice of this degree of opposition." How wrong we were in that, but how right we were in our opposition, as history has proved.
It's the most prestigious BBC news magazine programme. Daily, and always worth catching.
BBC iPlayer - Newsnight - 06/07/2016
A good reason not to watch it. The BBC is biased tool of globalists and progressive fascists.
Don't be silly.
I don't believe anyone signs up to be taken into illegitimate conflicts that are poorly organised, undermined by political considerations, badly supplied and so inept that British forces had to do deals with insurgents they were meant to be fighting.
I'm just watching Newsnight and a certain Lt Gen Jonathan Riley has just outlined the extent of the inadequate preparation and horrific equipment shortages that made the British forces incapable of doing the job they were asked to do.
Gen. Mike Jackson is making a rotten fist of justifying the effort. He was a key figure in persuading the government that Britain had the military capability to run both the Afghan and Iraqi campaigns. He was one of those gung-ho advisors that pushed Blair ever-closer to disaster, so he would say that, wouldn't he? Horrible contribution.
The wife of an officer killed in Basra showed laudable moderation in not punching Jackson in the face.
Small price to pay for removing Saddam? Respectfully Higgins, I disagree.We lost 179 in Operation Telic, an operation that lasted 8 years. Considering the difficulties faced, enemies, climate and logistics that was a very small price to pay.
We simply removed a dictator and replaced it with anarchy. I don't think it's too extreme a position to take to say that what replaced Saddam - Mokhtada al-Sadr, AQ and ISIS - was worse than Saddam.I have no doubt that Saddam left to his own devices would of continued to break international law, wage war on his own people, the region and eventually that would of manifested into a much larger threat.
No, the dead can't speak, but their widows and bereaved families can and their verdict on the rush to war and the disastrous pursuit of it is fairly damning.I'm proud of the job we did in Iraq as are most veterans of that conflict. Unfortunately the dead can't speak.
We lost 179 in Operation Telic, an operation that lasted 8 years. Considering the difficulties faced, enemies, climate and logistics that was a very small price to pay.
I have no doubt that Saddam left to his own devices would of continued to break international law, wage war on his own people, the region and eventually that would of manifested into a much larger threat.
I'm proud of the job we did in Iraq as are most veterans of that conflict. Unfortunately the dead can't speak.
It was ever the price of the grunt on the ground to try and act out the orders of those above who make the decisions. The unspoken military covenant is that we sign up and may give our lives but also on the other hand that those who send us into danger do so with a real understanding of why we are there, what we are supposed to do and that they should also make sure we are as well equipped and trained to do that job.
The men on the ground such as you did your best and believed in the mission however when you look at it dispassionately and look at the evidence, you will see that our forces were given a horrible task, that the equipment wasn't right and that the mission itself was wrong. Nobody blames the troops - it's the mission itself that was wrong and those that sent you and others like you into battle that were wrong.
We lost 179 in Operation Telic, an operation that lasted 8 years. Considering the difficulties faced, enemies, climate and logistics that was a very small price to pay.
I have no doubt that Saddam left to his own devices would of continued to break international law, wage war on his own people, the region and eventually that would of manifested into a much larger threat.
I'm proud of the job we did in Iraq as are most veterans of that conflict. Unfortunately the dead can't speak.
You know, between January 3 and April 12, 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 anti‑war protests and the demonstrations on February 15, 2003 in London still remain the largest political demonstration in the city's history.
It fell on deaf ears. Blair never listened and the invasion of Iraq began just over a month later. It’s difficult to accept that such a united display of people power on Feb,15 could have proven to be so ineffectual and was so easily disregarded and ignored.
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