Blair, in Surprise Iraq Trip, Says Country is 'Test Case'

[salin]

note: sorry about the source (foxnes) - but I thought it was interesting enough for us to be aware of - and listen to the language STILL being used. It is an AP story - not Fox - but I found it linked here - if someone can find a different news source carrying the AP story - please link it. Thanks.

Blair, in Surprise Iraq Trip, Says Country is 'Test Case'

BASRA, Iraq — On a surprise visit to British troops, Prime Minister Tony Blair (search) said Sunday that Iraq was a "test case" in the global fight against terror and repression.

The British leader said nations that develop weapons of mass destruction are a "huge liability for the whole security of the world."

(snip)

"No government that owes its position to the will of the people will spend billions of pounds on chemical and biological and nuclear weapons whilst their people live in poverty," Blair said.

salin's note: anyone else catch a little irony in this statement?

"Brutal and repressive states that don't actually have the support or consent of their people that are developing weapons which can cause destruction on a massive scale are a huge, huge liability to the whole security of the world," he said.

(snip)

Blair gambled his political fortunes on committing Britain to the war, in the face of widespread public opposition and dissent among many lawmakers in his governing Labor Party.

Despite the quick fall of Baghdad, Blair's popularity slumped amid accusations his government exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam's illicit arsenal to convince a skeptical public of the need for war.

More: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,107320,00.html

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. Irony?

[alfredo]

2. So the Iraqis and our soldiers were lab rats.

[alcuno]

3. so now it's the "global fight against terrorism and repression."

Repression? Now we're fighting repression?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

4. Blair, the Cowardly Lapdog.

[warrior1]

5. What

in the hell is wrong with these people?

Crazy, insane, reckless, fear mongering killers. They have got to be stopped.

[DavidDvorkin]

6. Scarcely cowardly

Blair's Iraq policies have been horrifying, but one can't call him cowardly, either in a political or personal sense. The poodle has displayed far more courage than has the man holding the leash.

[bvar22]

7. Fight repression with bombs and more repression

Humanitarian Bombs!
35,000 dead Iraqis,
70,000 maimed.
4,000 USA Causalities.

Yeah, this will work...NOT.

[pinto]

8. Reuters' story (link)

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=SOSDPMCN0INJ0CRBAELCFFA?type=topNews&storyID=4069783

<snip>

Speaking in the southern city of Basra, Iraq's second largest, Blair told British soldiers they were the "new pioneers of soldiering in the 21st century," fighting against threats of terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and brutal regimes.

Blair said world security was threatened by the "virus of Islamic extremism" and "brutal and repressive states which are developing weapons that can cause destruction on a massive scale." Such states were a "huge liability for the whole security of the world," he said.

Blair gave weapons of mass destruction as the main justification for joining the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March in the face of stiff domestic opposition. No such weapons have yet been found.

<snip>

[0007]

14. The link isn't working - it just opens with a blank page.

[pinto]

16. this ought to work, thks

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4069783

[Rose Siding]

9. The drop-out rate in Afghanistan was too high?

We just keep testing til we pass? How many countries are there?

[acmavm]

10. So what does this idiot really mean (or think). Does he think the test

run has gone so well it should be expanded to include other nations, or does the idiot think that they've accomplished something here? Either way, I beg to differ with the guy. I understand that I'm just a plebian member of a society that is starting to resemble that of the dictatorship we just deposed, but even I'm not stupid enough to think that all the lives that have been lost, all the money that has been spent, has accomplished anything.

I don't understand, lying, stealing, and murder (which is what I call indescriminately bombing civilian populations) used to be considered criminal offenses. Pre-emptive war is a policy that just boggles the mind, especially if the people calling the shots are just making stuff up as they go along. So someone please explain to me what the hell we've accomplished and what we've learned from this "test".

[pinto]

12. I'd bet the case for pre emptive war is being re-supported in military

think tanks in US and UK as we type....Perle and Frum's latest book is an opening salvo in keeping the pre emptive consensus alive.

[DuctapeFatwa]

11. I thought Palestine was the test case, and the great success there

was what gave the oilngun posse that needed confidence boost to go ahead and apply the strategy to the rest of the region, nation by nation.

[stickdog]

13. I think he was misquoted. I'm sure he said "test site" (nt)

[mw]

15. I wonder if Blair flew in under the cover of darkness in secret

....wearing disguises and lying to the aviation authority about his aircraft like Bush did?

Or did he go in like a man?

[OKNancy]

17. I got up early this morning and caught Blair

live. As he gave his talk to the troops, for some reason he just sounded so much more believable than Bush. When Bush says the things he does, I just get mad, but with Blair, I actually believe that he believes what he is saying. I guess that I find Blair more sincere.

[jpgray]

18. "nations that develop weapons of mass destruction are a huge liability"

No one even bothers to call "bullshit" anymore.

[Bridget Burke]

19. The attacks of 9/11 were done with boxcutters*

So what do WMD have to do with terrorism?

I agree with him that "no government that owes its position to the will of the people will spend billions of pounds on chemical and biological and nuclear weapons whilst their people live in poverty." Really glad that there's no poverty at all in the UK or the USA. Of course, the "will of the people" had very little to do with our last presidential election.

Preaching to the choir here, I know. Just wish that SOMEBODY would ask the bozos a few hard questions.

----------------

* per the official story