Tony Blair must be prosecuted
"Instead of remorse, Blair has demonstrated a voracious and secretive greed."
Tony Blair must be prosecuted, not indulged like his mentor Peter Mandelson. Both have produced self-serving memoirs for which they have been paid fortunes. Blair’s will appear next month and earn him £4.6 million. Now consider Britain’s Proceeds of Crime Act. Blair consired in and executed an unprovoked war of aggression against a defenceless country, which the Nuremberg judges in 1946 described as the “paramount war crime”. This has caused, according to scholarly studies, the deaths of more than a million people, a figure that exceeds the Fordham University estimate of deaths in the Rwandan genocide.
In addition, four million Iraqis have been forced to flee their homes and a majority of children have descended into malnutrition and trauma. Cancer rates near the cities of Fallujah, Najaf and Basra (the latter “liberated” by the British) are now revealed as higher than those at Hiroshima. “UK forces used about 1.9 metric tons of depleted uranium ammunition in the Iraq war in 2003,” the Defence Secretary Liam Fox told parliament on 22 July. A range of toxic “anti-personnel” weapons, such as cluster bombs, was employed by British and American forces.
Such carnage was justified with lies that have been repeatedly exposed. On 29 January 2003, Blair told parliament, “We do know of links between al-Qaida and Iraq …”. Last month, the former head of the intelligence service, MI5, Eliza Manningham-Buller, told the Chilcot inquiry, “There is no credible intelligence to suggest that connection … [it was the invasion] that gave Osama bin Laden his Iraqi jihad”. Asked to what extent the invasion exacerbated the threat to Britain from terrorism, she replied, “Substantially”. The bombings in London on 7 July 2005 were a direct consequence of Blair’s actions.
Documents released by the High Court show that Blair allowed British citizens to be abducted and tortured. The then foreign secretary, Jack Straw, decided in January 2002 that Guantanamo was the “best way” to ensure UK nationals were “securely held”.
Instead of remorse, Blair has demonstrated a voracious and secretive greed. Since stepping down as prime minister in 2007, he has accumulated an estimated £20 million [32 million USD], much of it as a result of his ties with the Bush administration. The House f Commons Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, which vets jobs taken by former ministers, was pressured not to make public Blair’s “consultancy” deals with the Kuwaiti royal family and the South Korean oil giant UI Energy Corporation. He gets £2 million a year “advising” the American investment bank J P Morgan and undisclosed sums from financial services companies. He makes millions from speeches, including reportedly £200,000 for one speech in China.
In his unpaid but expenses-rich role as the West’s “peace envoy” in the Middle East, Blair is, in effect, a voice of Israel, which awarded him a $1 million “peace prize”. In other words, his wealth has grown rapidly since he launched, with George W. Bush, the bloodbath in Iraq.
His collaborators are numerous. The Cabinet in March 2003 knew a great deal about the conspiracy to attack Iraq. Jack Straw, later appointed “justice secretary”, suppressed the relevant Cabinet minutes in defiance of an order by the Information Commissioner to release them. Most of those now running for the Labour Party leadership supported Blair’s epic crime, rising as one to salute his final appearance in the Commons. As foreign secretary, David Miliband, sought to cover Britain’s complicity in torture, and promoted Iran as the next “threat”.
Journalists who once fawned on Blair as “mystical” and amplified his vainglorious bids now pretend they were his critics all along. As for the media’s gulling of the public, only the Observer’s David Rose, to his great credit, has apologised. The Wikileaks’ exposes, released with a moral objective of truth with justice, have been bracing for a public force-fed on complicit, lobby journalism. Verbose celebrity historians like Niall Ferguson, who rejoiced in Blair’s rejuvenation of “enlightened” imperialism, remain silent on the “moral truancy”, as Pankaj Mishra wrote, “of [those] paid to intelligently interpret the contemporary world”.
Is it wishful thinking that Blair will be collared? Just as the Cameron government understands the “threat” of a law that makes Britain a risky stopover for Israeli war criminals, a similar risk awaits Blair in a number of countries and jurisdictions, at least of being apprehended and questioned. He is now Britain’s Kissinger, who has long planned his travel outside the United States with the care of a fugitive.
Two recent events add weight to this. On 15 June, the International Criminal Court made the landmark decision of adding aggression to its list of war crimes to be prosecuted. This is defined as a “crime committed by a political or military leader which by its character, gravity and scale constituted a manifest violation of the [United Nations] Charter”. International lawyers described this as a “giant leap”. Britain is a signatory to the Rome statute that created the court and is bound by its decisions.
On 21 July, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, standing at the Commons despatch box, declared the invasion of Iraq illegal. For all the later “clarification” that he was speaking personally, he had made “a statement that the international court would be interested in”, said Philippe Sands, professor of international law at University College London.
Tony Blair came from Britain’s upper middle classes who, having rejoiced in his unctuous ascendancy, might now reflect on the principles of right and wrong they require of their own children. The suffering of the children of Iraq will remain a spectre haunting Britain while Blair remains free to profit.
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Blood is His Argument: Tony Blair's Gentle Cuddling at Iraq "Inquiry"
The Glittering Prizes: War Crime Continues to Pay
A compilation of articles & news items here:
To gasps from the gallery, Blair said we should be proud of the war.
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Daily Mail The recommended retail price for a hardback copy of Blair's memoirs is £25 Tony Blair will cash in on his experience as Prime Minister by flogging a special edition of his memoirs at a wallet-busting £150. The red cloth-bound, slip-cased publication of A Journey resembles a Bible or hymn book and bears the signature of the former PM, who was often compared to a vicar for his preachy tone. Mr Blair – who became increasingly evangelical during his premiership – has already been forced to change the name of his memoirs from ‘The Journey’ to make the book sound less messianic. The globe-trotting politician has now decided to charge an inflated price for the tome, despite reaping a £4.6 million advance from his publishers Random House. The ‘deluxe’ edition was already discounted by a modest £15 on the publisher’s website this week. Mr Blair said the book had been a 'fascinating and enjoyable' experience but so far at least it has also been a financially rewarding one. Political insiders expressed astonishment that Mr Blair – who has raked in at least £20 million since quitting Downing Street in 2007 – was daring to charge so much for the book in the midst of a recession. Charlie Whelan, a former aide to Gordon Brown, said: ‘I’m flummoxed. There is always some political anorak who would be prepared this but I certainly won’t be buying it.’ He suggested that Mr Blair should channel some of the money back into the party which gave him the platform to be a world statesman. ‘I would be a lot happier if he was donating the money to the Labour Party,’ said Mr Whelan. But a Random House spokeswoman defended the £150 book: ‘The content is the same but it is a signed and numbered limited edition and the production values are different to a standard hardback. We often produce editions like this on our high-profile titles.’ The book is clearly aimed at the American market as the ex-PM and Middle East peace envoy is much more popular across the Atlantic, than at home. A promotional video for the book highlights the perma-tanned politician’s record on the glitzy international stage but plays down his record in office at home. He has all but edited out Mr Brown from the video, only showing one quick, grumpy-faced shot of him in a background scene. In contrast, there are lingering shots of Mr Blair with three American presidents: Bill Clinton, George W Bush – whose memoirs have been snapped up by the same publisher as Mr Blair – and Barack Obama. Mr Blair also trumpets his international adventures, including four wars, and only mentions his most controversial intervention - Iraq - fleetingly. The self-congratulatory video shows Mr Blair entering Number 10 to Union flag-waving crowds. There are no scenes of him being slow hand-clapped by the Women’s Institute or jeered by anti-war protesters, despite Mr Blair claiming that it would be a ‘frank’ account of his life. Mr Blair says: 'I set out to write a book which would give the reader an insight into the human as well as the political dimensions of life as a prime minister. 'So it's a frank account of my life in politics which illuminates what it's like to be a leader - both for the UK and also of course on the international stage. It charts the difficult decisions; the highs and the lows.' He also appeared to leave the door open to reviving a career in politics, saying that the book was a chance to reflect on his experience ‘so far’. 'Although a memoir is of course necessarily retrospective, I found that writing this account of events also helped me shape my thoughts about the future,’ he adds. Mr Blair is the latest Labour politician to rush to cash in on his experience in government. His ally Peter Mandelson published his book The Third Man last month, while Gordon Brown has just put the finishing touches on a book casting himself as the man who saved the world from financial meltdown. In contrast, however, Mr Brown will give all the proceeds to charity. Shadow Justice Secretary Jack Straw also revealed last week he was quitting frontline politics and would also publish a tell-all book. |
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