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[tomtom94]

Full story at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34630380

Speaking to US news channel CNN, Mr Blair said even if his policy in Iraq did not work, subsequent policies had worked no better.

He believed it was better that Saddam Hussein was no longer in power and suggested that if the Iraq invasion had not taken place there was a danger the country would have degenerated into civil war, as Syria did.

Mr Blair's comments come shortly before Sir John Chilcot announces a timetable for completion of his inquiry into the war.

The Mail on Sunday described the interview as an "astonishing" apology, but a spokesman for the former prime minister said there was nothing new in his words.

BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said any apologies from Mr Blair were strictly limited.

Asked if the war was the "principle cause" of the rise of the Islamic State (IS or ISIS) militant group, he replied: "I think there are elements of truth in that.

Thought I'd post the article here because these are interesting times we live in. Certainly it feels like public opinion is changing back against the Iraq War (not least when the new Labour leader has promised to apologise for the party's role in starting the war) - I definitely feel this is a pre-emptive strike against whatever is going to emerge from the Chilcot inquiry. At the same time, there is the issue of legacy; what do we do about IS now that they have risen so much more than anybody could have anticipated?

Oh, and will George Bush ever admit his wrongdoing?

 

[Zvonimir Boban]

Still a massive cunt.

 

[funkypie]

Even bush said he regretted in his book. Can't believe this piece of shit Blair 12 years on is still defending it. I wish the government had the balls to prosecute him for lying and the murder of dr kellly

 

[Rich!]

Still a massive cunt.

I came to post exactly the same thing word for word.

 

[neogaffer1]

He believed it was better that Saddam Hussein was no longer in power and suggested that if the Iraq invasion had not taken place there was a danger the country would have degenerated into civil war, as Syria did.

like it's in right now?

 

[Consul]

I still do not have a fucking clue why we went in there in the first place. Anyone have any idea? The whole weapons of mass destruction thing was a farce right?

 

[DECK'ARD]

I still do not have a fucking clue why we went in there in the first place. Anyone have any idea? The whole weapons of mass destruction thing was a farce right?

As far as the UK was concerned it was Blair losing the plot and wanting his place in history. He also had a hard-on for Thatcher and wanted his Falklands.

 

[Bboy AJ]

Military service should be a requirement before holding these political positions.

 

[Guerrillas in the Mist]

Still a massive cunt.

Really all that needs to be said.

 

[BocoDragon]

Let's never forget how much of humanity was visibly against this war:

According to the French academic Dominique Reynié, between January 3 and April 12, 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the Iraq war.[1]

After the biggest series of demonstrations, on February 15, 2003, New York Times writer Patrick Tyler claimed that they showed that there were two superpowers on the planet, the United States and worldwide public opinion.[2]

These protests are said to be the biggest global peace protests before a war actually started;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protests_against_the_Iraq_War

Never tolerate any "who could have known?" rhetoric. People were screaming loud and clear BAD IDEA.

 

[Jonm1010]

Even bush said he regretted in his book. Can't believe this piece of shit Blair 12 years on is still defending it. I wish the government had the balls to prosecute him for lying and the murder of dr kellly

Did Bush really? How come I never heard this news? Of course I was never going to read his book so maybe that's why.

If he was thorough and genuine I might actually gain a small bit of respect for him.

 

[Dabanton]

I still do not have a fucking clue why we went in there in the first place. Anyone have any idea? The whole weapons of mass destruction thing was a farce right?

Partly because him and Bush believed they had a religious right to do so as told to them by god.

Didn't Bush say god told him to invade both Afghanistan and Iraq. Blair had to do things a little different as he'd face ridicule from the UK if religion was used as the pretext for any invasion so they came up with the dodgy dossier

 

[DY_nasty]

Military service should be a requirement before holding these political positions.

ehhhhhh I wouldn't say its any better or worse tbh

yeah, you may have a different perspective on things than your typical politician, but at the same time...

ehhhhhhhhhh

 

[goomba]

It was reported back in 2003 that in order for an oil pipline to be implemented between Iraq and northern israel, reigime change would be required in both Iraq and Syria.

This would mean Israel would not have to keep purchasing oil from Russia.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ED04Ak01.html

 

[BocoDragon]

ehhhhhh I wouldn't say its any better or worse tbh

yeah, you may have a different perspective on things than your typical politician, but at the same time...

ehhhhhhhhhh

Yeah. I have a cousin who got into the military because of GI Joe, basically. Childhood military fetish. I saw the genesis of his interest in the military, and it was entirely fantasy-based.

And he grows up, enlists, and suddenly his political worldview is informed by the necessity of warfare, he is hyper obsessed with the enemies of the nation that justify his position, and he supports any politician that supports the military. So... right wing, basically.

Getting involved in the military means cultivating a military viewpoint. I don't think these people necessarily make great politicians. Actually they're some of the most biased towards warfare solutions.

 

[dabig2]

Partly because him and Bush believed they had a religious right to do so as told to them by god.

Didn't Bush say god told him to invade both Afghanistan and Iraq. Blair had to do things a little different as he'd face ridicule from the UK if religion was used as the pretext for any invasion so they came up with the dodgy dossier

Bush said a lot of crazy religious shit. Gog and Magog and all that. It's pretty insane how he got countries to join in the Iraq farce. Almost want to give props for that, but I'm pretty sure the promise of $$$$ was the pitch.

 

[TsunamiOfSwagger]

I cant be doing with him, he is a snake oil salesman. Grinning like a twat constantly.
This is how I will always remember him-

 

[Buba Big Guns]

It was reported back in 2003 that in order for an oil pipline to be implemented between Iraq and northern israel, reigime change would be required in both Iraq and Syria.

This would mean Israel would not have to keep purchasing oil from Russia.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ED04Ak01.html

The Iraq war wasn't really about that. It was about getting market access for more oil in general.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4sjq9pzFa8

 

[DY_nasty]

Yeah. I have a cousin who got into the military because of GI Joe, basically. Childhood military fetish. I saw the genesis of his interest in the military, and it was entirely fantasy-based.

And he grows up, enlists, and suddenly his political worldview is informed by the necessity of warfare, he is hyper obsessed with the enemies of the nation that justify his position, and he supports any politician that supports the military. So... right wing, basically.

Getting involved in the military means cultivating a military viewpoint. I don't think these people necessarily make great politicians. Actually they're some of the most biased towards warfare solutions.

Yeah

And the thing is, those types are definitely the loudest and most outspoken. The military man that kinda rejects it all AND is politically involved is pretty rare. Especially these days.

Not trying to generalize vets, I'm one, but I just kinda feel like I HAVE to say that vet politicians aren't always the most rational when it comes to stuff like that. Only thing that you can count on is their support of the VA and paying soldiers better lol

Anything else is a mixed bag

 

[Joel Was Right]

It seems to me the principle reason he and others involved in the war fall back on now in hindsight is, "Well, he was a bad guy anyway."

 

[BocoDragon]

Bush said a lot of crazy religious shit. Gog and Magog and all that. It's pretty insane how he got countries to join in the Iraq farce. Almost want to give props for that, but I'm pretty sure the promise of $$$$ was the pitch.

Actually, it was spectacular how few countries got on board, considering the great influence that the US has, and especially had in the wake of the sympathy-generating 9/11.

Albania Provided overflight rights for U.S. warplanes; signed February 5th letter of support; offered 70 non-combat soldiers.8
Australia Provided 2,000 troops; 14 Hornet fighter jets; transport ships.8
Bahrain Base for U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet
Britain 42,000 troops; ships and planes.
Bulgaria Decontamination forces; overflight rights; Black Sea base; signed February 5th letter of support.
Croatia Signed February 5th letter of support.
Czech Republic Decontamination forces; overflight rights; signed January 30th letter of support.
Denmark Offering 50-100 special operations troops; signed January 30th letter of support. Deployed a submarine and small naval destroyer.[6]
Egypt Access to air bases, Suez Canal, Overflight permissions.[7]
Eritrea Public political support
Estonia Signed February 5th letter of support.
Ethiopia Public political support
Hungary Use of base for training Iraqi opposition; possible overflight rights; signed January 30th letter of support.
Iceland Public political support
Israel Bases for Patriot missile batteries; storage of arms and other material.
Italy NATO and Italian bases; overflight rights; signed January 30th letter of support.
Kuwait Bases for about 70,000 U.S. troops.
Japan Post-conflict reconstruction assistance[8]
Jordan Quietly hosting U.S. commandos.
Latvia Signed February 5th letter of support.
Lithuania Overflight rights; signed February 5th letter of support.
Macedonia Signed February 5th letter of support.
Netherlands Non-combat troops; Patriot missile batteries to defend Turkey.8
Oman Bases for warplanes and about 28,000 U.S. personnel.
Palau Public political support.
Poland Signed January 30th letter of support; 1,500 peace-keeping troops.12
Portugal NATO bases and Portuguese air base in the Azores; signed January 30th letter of support.
Qatar Central Command headquarters; bases for 3,500 U.S. military and warplanes.
Romania Special operations teams; signed February 5th letter of support; Opened airspace and strategic ports on the Black Sea.8
Saudi Arabia U.S. air command center at Prince Sultan Air Base outside Riyadh.
Singapore Public support of the invasion[9]
Slovakia Signed February 5th letter of support.
Slovenia Signed February 5th letter of support.
Spain Bases at Rota and Moron; signed January 30th letter of support; non-combat troops.
United Arab Emirates. 3,000 troops; bases, ports for U.S. warplanes and ships.
Turkey NATO air bases[10]

http://web.stanford.edu/class/e297a/The Coalition of the Willing.htm

Notice how few of these countries are heavy hitters militarily, and notice how little they contributed. Most of these moves are clearly just not wanting to piss off America with as little effort as possible.

Britain was the one big supporter, and you can thank Tony for it.

My country of Canada, America's closest ally? We were like Fuuuuuuuck No. And I'm proud of that.

Yeah

And the thing is, those types are definitely the loudest and most outspoken. The military man that kinda rejects it all AND is politically involved is pretty rare. Especially these days.

Not trying to generalize vets, I'm one, but I just kinda feel like I HAVE to say that vet politicians aren't always the most rational when it comes to stuff like that. Only thing that you can count on is their support of the VA and paying soldiers better lol

Anything else is a mixed bag

It's cool that you are a vet, and describing this situation.

There are no doves in foxholes, I guess you could say...

 

[Consul]

As far as the UK was concerned it was Blair losing the plot and wanting his place in history. He also had a hard-on for Thatcher and wanted his Falklands.

Can we really prescribe this to our leader at the time losing the plot and acting for his own self interest? If so I'd lose a shit-load of confidence in our way of governance.

Partly because him and Bush believed they had a religious right to do so as told to them by god.

Didn't Bush say god told him to invade both Afghanistan and Iraq. Blair had to do things a little different as he'd face ridicule from the UK if religion was used as the pretext for any invasion so they came up with the dodgy dossier

Oh man, if that was a real reason it's not better than the religious extremism that we've been fighting against. Surely Bush would had to have offered more than just 'God told me so' to get Blair on-board, at this point I'm guessing money and power in no particular order have something to do with it. Makes more sense than any other theory so far.

It's crazy to think that we've spent billions of pounds on massive public opinion and military campaigns for something so illogical and just plain wrong in hindsight, that didn't really benefit anything except '?'.

 

[DECK'ARD]

Can we really prescribe this to our leader at the time losing the plot and acting for his own self interest? If so I'd lose a shit-load of confidence in our way of governance.



Oh man, if that was a real reason it's not better than the religious extremism that we've been fighting against. Surely Bush would had to have offered more than just 'God told me so' to get Blair on-board, at this point I'm guessing money and power in no particular order have something to do with it. Makes more sense than any other theory so far.

It's crazy to think that we've spent billions of pounds on massive public opinion and military campaigns for something so illogical and just plain wrong in hindsight, that didn't really benefit anything except '?'.

"God told me so" would have been enough, Blair really did lose the plot and believed he had a pivotal role to play in history.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/rel...o-to-war-to-fight-evil-claims-his-mentor.html

Tony Blair believed God wanted him to go to war to fight evil, claims his mentor

Tony Blair viewed his decision to go to war in Iraq and Kosovo as part of a "Christian battle", according to one of his closest political allies.

The former Prime Minister's faith is claimed to have influenced all his key policy decisions and to have given him an unshakeable conviction that he was right.

John Burton, Mr Blair's political agent in his Sedgefield constituency for 24 years, says that Labour's most successful ever leader – in terms of elections won – was driven by the belief that "good should triumph over evil".

"It's very simple to explain the idea of Blair the Warrior," he says. "It was part of Tony living out his faith."

And from the horse's mouth:

"It's difficult if you talk about religious faith in our political system," he said. "If you are in the American political system or others then you can talk about religious faith and people say 'yes, that's fair enough' and it is something they respond to quite naturally. You talk about it in our system and, frankly, people do think you're a nutter."

Yes Tony, you were a nutter.

 

[jelly]

His wife is also a horrible human being.

Link

 

[Jezbollah]

His wife is also a horrible human being.

Link

They both deserve the luxury two bedroom flat in the depths of hell.

 

[Betty]

I cant be doing with him, he is a snake oil salesman. Grinning like a twat constantly.
This is how I will always remember him-

As Zorro?

 

[TsunamiOfSwagger]

Evil eye zorro.

 

[StayDead]

Tony Blair is an awful person.

The country woulld've gone into civil war like Syria? You mean what is happening now isn't civil war? I don't get it. It's Iraqi people attacking Iraqi peoplle. Is that not the definition of civil war?

Seriously, how he hasn't been convicted of war crimes yet for the illegal war I have no idea. Horrible, disgusting individual.

 

[Suen]

Tony Blair is an awful person.

The country woulld've gone into civil war like Syria? You mean what is happening now isn't civil war? I don't get it. It's Iraqi people attacking Iraqi peoplle. Is that not the definition of civil war?

Seriously, how he hasn't been convicted of war crimes yet for the illegal war I have no idea. Horrible, disgusting individual.

Attacking ISIS and saving your own people from them now constitutes as attacking your own people? Ok. Glad you know what you're talking about. Perhaps you could save the Iraqi people by housing a few ISIS members yourself, it would be appreciated.

 

[Orbis]

the murder of dr kellly

This was so obvious it barely counts as a conspiracy theory. The general public don't give a shit though so it has already been forgotten about.

 

[The Incarnation]

This was so obvious it barely counts as a conspiracy theory. The general public don't give a shit though so it has already been forgotten about.

Wouldn't surprise me if this fucker had John Smith taken out as well. Things just seem to line up perfectly for this psycho.

 

[Yen]

Would be great to see him appear at the Hague...

 

[Jackpot]

It always struck me how obvious the cherry-picking of evidence in the run-up to war was. And more damningly how unprovoked it was. Nothing in Iraq had changed but now we wanted to invade them.

 

[Zaph]

Blair “I find it hard to apologise for removing Saddam.”

Still as crazy as ever. Chilcot report needs to be released now.

His wife is also a horrible human being.

Link

Both determined to be on the wrong side of history if it allows them to get paid and rub shoulders with the elite in the present.

 

[Ushojax]

It's amazing that he still pretends to have a conscience. He jets around the world collecting massive fees from dictators and dodgy regimes yet he expects us to believe that he gives one solitary shit about what he did with Iraq?

Even now his lawyers are preventing the Chilcot report from being released. The man has no shame.

 

[cyberheater]

You lot keep pointing the finger at him but he was just a puppet of the US.

 

[Deleted member 125677]

if the Iraq invasion had not taken place there was a danger the country would have degenerated into civil war, as Syria did.

are you fucking kidding me??

 

[345triangle]

You lot keep pointing the finger at him but he was just a puppet of the US.

a voluntary and gleeful one.

 

[Jackpot]

You lot keep pointing the finger at him but he was just a puppet of the US.

He was an accomplice. He certainly wasn't strong-armed into it. Also, even if true, why would the above absolve him of wrong-doing in the slightest?

 

[cyberheater]

a voluntary and gleeful one.

Agreed. I really do wonder why he did it.

 

[Zaph]

You lot keep pointing the finger at him but he was just a puppet of the US.

You can say a lot about Tony Blair, but he isn't a simple minded idiot 'tricked' into the war. The UK was also in good standing economically and politically, so he didn't need to join in for diplomatic reasons. He did so out of ego - he likes being around, and part of, the world's elite which a closer relationship with Bush enabled.

 

[daviyoung]

Agreed. I really do wonder why he did it.

economics

 

[345triangle]

Agreed. I really do wonder why he did it.

You can say a lot about Tony Blair, but he isn't a simple minded idiot 'tricked' into the war. The UK was also in good standing economically and politically, so he didn't need to join in for diplomatic reasons. He did so out of ego - he likes being around, and part of, the world's elite which a closer relationship with Bush enabled.

yeah. i also think for whatever reason he did truly think it would be a good idea, despite it being common sense to much of the public that it wasn't. when you're exposed to the information you are as a head of state, surrounded by the kind of people you are, etc, it's easy to get in too deep without seeing the big picture. his ego let his head be turned. and let's not forget that the british parliament voted for the war by 412 to 149!

the "puppet of the US" argument doesn't hold water. france and germany had no trouble at all standing up to bush.

 

[The Incarnation]

economics

Nah. Dude seriously thought it was his "mission" from God.

 

[Measley]

I'll never forget Chris Rock's Iraq joke;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGAt1lwzlSk

 

[DECK'ARD]

Nah. Dude seriously thought it was his "mission" from God.

He did have a wobble though!

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2011/jan/14/tony-blair-alastair-campbell-diaries

"TB was clearly having a bit of a wobble," Campbell writes in Power and the People on 16 December 1998, hours before the launch of bombing raids to punish Saddam for failing to co-operate with UN weapons inspectors. "He [Blair] said he had been reading the Bible last night, as he often did when the really big decisions were on, and he had read something about John the Baptist and Herod which had caused him to rethink, albeit not change his mind."

Can't believe this was going on in our country.

Alistair Campbell obviously made sure all this stayed behind closed doors, "We don't do God".

 

[Dingens]

so, now that he pretty much admitted that his (and his friends) shitty policy is responsible for IS, how many refugees is he going to take in? I've got like 150k on stand-by next door

 

[Blader]

He believed it was better that Saddam Hussein was no longer in power and suggested that if the Iraq invasion had not taken place there was a danger the country would have degenerated into civil war, as Syria did.

ffs

Not only was that not a danger, but it's exactly what happened because of Saddam's removal.

 

[Cheesecakebobby]

He's right to apologise, and right to say there were both positive and negative consequences - nothing controversial. The failure to plan for and subsequently deal with the vacuum left by the clusterfuck invasion paved the way for IS. However, the dying years of the Bush administration and the UK counterparts started to recognise the problem. We can only speculate as to whether they would have dealt with the situation - which involves recognising that failure to deal with the ideology of Islamism specifically - any better than their successors. So, Blair shares in the blame for creating the situation in which groups like IS could breed, but this was just the first part of a sequence of mistakes (and there is more than enough blame to go around).