And then there was this
Reading about the Chilcot Report brings oh so many things to mind. On the (dimly) bright side, after the last ten days highlighted the dysfunctionality of British politics, the mere existence of a) the comission, and b) the report now delivered is a reminder that the U.K. does have a political tradition and understanding of responsibility to be proud of. Because I didn't see Obama ordering such an investigation on to the Bush administration's decision making re: the Iraq War, did you? And I don't think any future president (of either party) ever will; I think Dubya will live out his life without even the minor inconvenience of two or so days public shaming Blair is currently going through before the news cycle moves on. That shoe thrown at him ages ago when he showed up in Iraq was as close as we'll ever get.
Now I've heard some reminders about hindsight being 20/20, but as not only the report points out, no hindsight was necessary. Blair had people in his own cabinet who pointed out the insanity and wrongness of it all. And resigned as a matter of principle. (So very different from a certain bunch who resigned AFTER creating disaster in the last few days.) Robin Cook's resignation speech (in fulll, all eleven minutes of it) is worth listening to again; and here is Clare Short's letter Blair, pointing out that "the consequences of us continuing to be vague about the detail of future arrangements are very serious. We risk putting our armed forces and our civil servants in a situation where they are complicit with breaches of international law. We risk antagonising Arab opinion across the region and jeapordising the prospects of progress with MEPP. And we risk the UK's own international reputation." No kidding, Ma'am.
Of Blair's own letters and memos written at the time, the one currently most quoted is the "I'll be with you, whatever" note to Bush written full eight months before the Iraq Invasion. Sounding for all the world as if he thinks he's Sam going to Mordor with Frodo. And the thing is, he probably does think that (though a less Frodo-like person than W. is hardly imaginable). When he published his memoirs, I browsed through them and among all the usual self justifying hogwash, the starry eyed treatment the US and its leaders get really stood out. Tony Blair in his memoirs about US Presidents, summed up and only slightly paraphrased: "I love America. To prove it, I'll use as many clichés as possible when talking about it. Frontier spirit, vision, leadership, leadership, leadership, vision vision vision. Now, about those guys at the top: 1.) Bill. Bill is brilliant and charming and I fell for him immediately. And damm it if he didn't seduce me all over again in Blackpool 2003 even though I was already in a happy relationship with George by then. Also? He weathered that impeachment thing and left office with an approval rating of more than 60%, unlike me, hmph. 2.) George. Stop calling George stupid, you meanies! A stupid man would never become the American president. Always knowing right from wrong is intelligence, too, and George ALWAYS knows the right thing to do! Plus he's really manly and tough and decisive. 3.) Obama. I met him! He's as brilliant as Bill and as tough and manly as George. And I'm sure he didn't mean it when he said not so nice things about George's Iraq policy."
Power loves power, of course, but the impression I have with Blair is that it's a bit more than that with the US; Peter Morgan was on to something with the last installment of his Blair trilogy. Meanwhile, one of our politicians quipped: "The Special Relationship - so special only the Brits knows it exists." Seriously though, there are more than enough examples in British-American post war history of wars where they WEREN'T on each other's side (Suez, Vietnam, Falkland) that this idea that to maintain a good British-American relationship Britain would have to unconditionally support the US strikes me as a unique-to-Blair interpretation. In his most recent sorry-not-sorry press conference, he mentioned he always believed that Britain needed to have a strong relationship with both the US and Europe. Currently it has neither. ("Back to the end of the queue" was how Obama put it, didn't he?) While the Tories (and Rupert Murdoch) certainly carry a lot of blame for that, a case can be made that Blair's behavior re: Iraq did his share.
At the most recent terrorist bombing in Bagdhad a few days ago, about 200 people died. Not much reporting on this one; violent death in Iraq is so commonplace by now that it only gets a few lines internationally. I don't think many Iraquis will care about the Chilcot report at this point.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1182299.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
Now I've heard some reminders about hindsight being 20/20, but as not only the report points out, no hindsight was necessary. Blair had people in his own cabinet who pointed out the insanity and wrongness of it all. And resigned as a matter of principle. (So very different from a certain bunch who resigned AFTER creating disaster in the last few days.) Robin Cook's resignation speech (in fulll, all eleven minutes of it) is worth listening to again; and here is Clare Short's letter Blair, pointing out that "the consequences of us continuing to be vague about the detail of future arrangements are very serious. We risk putting our armed forces and our civil servants in a situation where they are complicit with breaches of international law. We risk antagonising Arab opinion across the region and jeapordising the prospects of progress with MEPP. And we risk the UK's own international reputation." No kidding, Ma'am.
Of Blair's own letters and memos written at the time, the one currently most quoted is the "I'll be with you, whatever" note to Bush written full eight months before the Iraq Invasion. Sounding for all the world as if he thinks he's Sam going to Mordor with Frodo. And the thing is, he probably does think that (though a less Frodo-like person than W. is hardly imaginable). When he published his memoirs, I browsed through them and among all the usual self justifying hogwash, the starry eyed treatment the US and its leaders get really stood out. Tony Blair in his memoirs about US Presidents, summed up and only slightly paraphrased: "I love America. To prove it, I'll use as many clichés as possible when talking about it. Frontier spirit, vision, leadership, leadership, leadership, vision vision vision. Now, about those guys at the top: 1.) Bill. Bill is brilliant and charming and I fell for him immediately. And damm it if he didn't seduce me all over again in Blackpool 2003 even though I was already in a happy relationship with George by then. Also? He weathered that impeachment thing and left office with an approval rating of more than 60%, unlike me, hmph. 2.) George. Stop calling George stupid, you meanies! A stupid man would never become the American president. Always knowing right from wrong is intelligence, too, and George ALWAYS knows the right thing to do! Plus he's really manly and tough and decisive. 3.) Obama. I met him! He's as brilliant as Bill and as tough and manly as George. And I'm sure he didn't mean it when he said not so nice things about George's Iraq policy."
Power loves power, of course, but the impression I have with Blair is that it's a bit more than that with the US; Peter Morgan was on to something with the last installment of his Blair trilogy. Meanwhile, one of our politicians quipped: "The Special Relationship - so special only the Brits knows it exists." Seriously though, there are more than enough examples in British-American post war history of wars where they WEREN'T on each other's side (Suez, Vietnam, Falkland) that this idea that to maintain a good British-American relationship Britain would have to unconditionally support the US strikes me as a unique-to-Blair interpretation. In his most recent sorry-not-sorry press conference, he mentioned he always believed that Britain needed to have a strong relationship with both the US and Europe. Currently it has neither. ("Back to the end of the queue" was how Obama put it, didn't he?) While the Tories (and Rupert Murdoch) certainly carry a lot of blame for that, a case can be made that Blair's behavior re: Iraq did his share.
At the most recent terrorist bombing in Bagdhad a few days ago, about 200 people died. Not much reporting on this one; violent death in Iraq is so commonplace by now that it only gets a few lines internationally. I don't think many Iraquis will care about the Chilcot report at this point.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1182299.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.