Far be it from me…
Way back when, when I was a new blogger and more inclined to say what I thought (I was only 42 at the time for goodness’ sake) I wrote this:-
14 September 2002
Just out of interest, is there anybody who seriously believes that there is anything which can be done by Iraq or anyone else to stop George W Bush pressing on regardless with his damnfool Gulf crusade? Is there anything which the Iraqis could do which would stave off the fate which is planned for them? Of course not. George and the boys are out lookin’ for some A-rab ass and there ain’t nothin’ gonna come between them and a good sanctified lynchin’ and some fresh corpses.
Lets face it: Wee George and his posse of cretins has been itching for this one and happy to find any excuse to start bombing. The arrogance and ignorance of this bunch, their utter contempt for the rest of the world, their uncritical support of the unrestrained psycopathy of Sharon and the Israeli government, and their total disregard for the consequences of their actions (coupled with the naked harnessing of the world’s environment to the US oil industry which backed Bush Jnr. into office and writes his policies for him) make Bush Jnr. a greater liability to the rest of the world than Saddam could hope to dream of being. At least his Dad, who was no rocket scientist himself, had some grasp of the world beyond the Potomac even if, with the CIA, as Vice President and as President, Bush Snr. was himself complicit in the coming to power of Saddam in the first place.
That Saddam is a murdering despot is not in doubt; that he must not be appeased is also not in doubt. That the resolution chosen should be one which is likely to make an unstable region worse, destroy the United Nations, and increase the contempt in which the only remaining superpower is held, well… maybe a few doubts there wouldn’t you say?
It is not, I think, too fanciful to claim that the fate of the world now swings on the hanging chads of Miami Dade County. And all for the sake of sustaining the US oil economy.
And as for Blair…
A couple of months later, when I was also in a “speak your mind” kind of mood, I reflected on that comment thus just before the year turned:-
23 December 2002
Back in September I put some thoughts in here about the alleged crisis with regard to Iraq and the intentions of Wee George. The fate of the world, I suggested with grand rhetorical flourish, swung on the hanging chads of Florida. I suggested that it seemed obvious that George was determined to have his war and it was simply an issue of what the pretext would be.
Nothing that has happened since leads me to change my mind – and indeed I think my view has been reinforced. When it comes down to it, in amongst all the relentless and cynical news management of the White House and Downing Street there has been no smoking gun produced despite all of the efforts of the administrations to find one. Now, should something that purports to be a smoking gun be produced, the degree of scepticism and cynicism about their motives means that US/UK would have little or no credibility – particularly since the US hijacked the dossier produced to the UN by Iraq and removed several thousan pages before passing it on to other Security Council nations. Each night I see on the TV news reference to the Iraq ‘Crisis’ – but until Bush began to confect one to try and banish his own psychological and political failings (after all neither Bush nor Saddam are in office by virtue of winning free elections) by encouraging his dogs to bark at the memories of shadows there was no “Iraq Crisis”. Saddam’s regime is barbarous and repellent, but it was contained and controlled.
Actually that’s not true: there is a crisis in Iraq, the preventable deaths of children as a direct result of sanctions which hurt Saddam not one jot but hurt the generation in which some hope for a better future might otherwise be found. The policy of Bush and his performing monkey in Downing Street look set to ensure that the much vaunted “War on Terrorism” (already dubious in its conception) will lock into place for another generation the very conditions which will spawn the next generation of terrorists.
Seven years and countless corpses (including that of the late Dr. David Kelly) later and there is an enquiry going on in the UK into the circumstances surrounding the Invasion of Iraq. It is very British – dry and polite, and yet I find that today’s testimony by Sir Christopher Meyer, who was then our man in Washington, is essentially the same though, of course, much less crudely expressed:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/nov/26/iraq-war-chilcot-inquiry-tonyblair
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