Comments | selenak: And then there was this

selenak

And then there was this

Jul 07, 2016 13:01

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 ( Read more... )

politics, tony blair

Comments 8

lareinenoire July 7 2016, 13:15:18 UTC

Ugh ugh ugh. I remember when this was all happening--I was a student and most of my fellow students were appalled and disgusted by Bush's decision. But nobody was listening to us, of course. We were just stupid children, after all, and we couldn't POSSIBLY understand what was going on.

And, of course, we were right. The Bush Administration led us into a catastrophic war on flimsy, self-aggrandizing pretences, and millions of innocent people paid the price for it. I want to see Bush, Cheney, Ashcroft, and all of them condemned as war criminals, but our system is so rigged that it will never happen. They've done the damage, made their billions of dollars, and are off enjoying their retirements. Disgusting.

While I'm glad to see that at least someone is being forced to take responsibility for his actions, it really does highlight the fact that the ringleaders are getting away with their crimes.

selenak July 7 2016, 17:45:46 UTC

Last year when all the media wrote nice, friendly articles about Bush's paintings, I was surprised how angry that made me. I felt like yelling "this isn't just some harmless pensioner showing off his watercolours! How dare you treat him as such!"

No, not getting over it any time soon.

local_max July 7 2016, 13:36:31 UTC

The jokey tone of that excerpt from Blair's memoir reads like someone making a vicious satire of a sociopathic (and sycophantic) politician. You meanies! "And I'm sure he didn't mean it when he said not so nice things about George's Iraq policy." That so many have died or have their lives plunged into chaos is totally irrelevant. Even recognizing that Blair would not start owning up to what happened in a memoir, you think he'd be able to find a way to write about Bush like he's aware that the Iraq War was serious and most readers wouldn't be laughing.

selenak July 7 2016, 17:53:25 UTC

That wasn't an excerpt, in all fairness, that was me paraphrasing and summarizing. He didn't write "meanies" for example, he complaned about "hurtful slights" re: Bush's intelligence. But the crushing fanboy tone is absolutely there. As is the praise for Bush's manliness and toughness.

local_max July 7 2016, 18:58:13 UTC

Haha. I feel pretty stupid right now. Anyway....

zahrawithaz July 7 2016, 15:41:56 UTC

As the American granddaughter of English immigrant grandparents, this sounds 100% accurate as a summary of the so-called "special relationship." Also the summary of Blair's memoirs is hilarious, in a bleak-we-need-hilarity way given your important and sobering point about the latest bombing in Baghdad.

You're all too right that Bush isn't going to pay for the Iraq War long-term; there is still a lot of pent-up anger over in within this country, but it's been utterly subsumed by our current political debacle, and I suspect a lot of that anger is actually helping Trump. Which is terrifying.

selenak July 7 2016, 17:55:24 UTC

It is. I heard that Trump has taken to fanboying Saddam Hussein lately, which: so not the point to our objections to the Iraq War.

pujaemuss July 7 2016, 21:20:57 UTC

I was in Australia at the time of the decision to go to war and Australian news was dominated by the fact that their PM was taking them into it on the basis of our PM's word and their trust in the dossier of WMD in 45 minutes. I was actively insulted - sure politicians are generally scum, but this was the leader of our country personally guaranteeing this evidence to our allies. His word should not have been in doubt.

I was young and naive, but I was right about something - when a British PM guarantees intelligence as true, his word should not be in doubt, and I find it despicable that Blair has caused it to forever be doubted in the future.

It's nice that we have the Chilcott Report, but it is an embarrassment that it's taken 7 years to report the bloody obvious while managing to avoid holding anyone criminally liable for anything.

PJW