Tony Blair’s new claims on Iraq invasion are ‘very damaging’, says Archbishop of Canterbury

[sabra]

Source: UK telegraph

Tony Blair’s claim that Britain would have invaded Iraq even if he had known there were no weapons of mass destruction in the country is “very damaging”, according to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Dr Rowan Williams said the admission by the former Prime Minister, who led the country into war on the basis that Saddam Hussein's regime was a threat to the West, would further reduce the public’s trust in politics.

...

Dr Williams, the most senior cleric in the Church of England, opposed the invasion of Iraq in early 2003 and recently used a service at St Paul’s Cathedral to honour the 179 British service personnel who died in the conflict to criticise Labour’s handling of it.

He condemned the “overblown language” used to justify the mission to topple Saddam Hussein and claimed the subsequent occupation had created a “chaotic, ravaged society”.

On Wednesday, he was asked by Simon Mayo on his BBC Radio 5 Live programme what he thought of the recent disclosure by Mr Blair that he would still have thought the invasion justified even if he had known that Iraq was not developing technology that threatened other countries.

Dr Williams replied: “I think that’s a very damaging thing to say.

“That doesn’t do anything for people’s trust in public life.”

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/6826761/Tony-Blairs-new-claims-on-Iraq-invasion-are-very-damaging-says-Archbishop-of-Canterbury.html

[Raster]

1. Slowly but surely Britain will unravel the fibers of the Iraq affair.

Their media, while corporate owned, is no lapdog to the ruling government, the Labour Party nor Tony Blair. Blair will not receive the protection and downright collusion enjoyed by cheney*/bush*. Some media outlets in Britain WILL follow the obvious trails. Case in point: these new facts that show "...Britain would have invaded Iraq even if he had known there were no weapons of mass destruction...". Consider the renewed interest in the "suicide":rofl: of David Kelley.

Blair--and Britain--are America's strongest ally, and a full partner to the Iraq affair. It won't be long until probably British sources will fully determine that the Iraq invasion and subsequent war are illegal by any standard of international law, and the massive amounts of WAR CRIMES have been committed by Britain and the USA.

[JohnyCanuck]

2. War crime case against Tony Blair now rock-solid

Tony Blair's extraordinary admission on Sunday to the BBC's Fern Britton - that he would have gone to war to topple Saddam Hussein regardless of the issue of Iraq's alleged WMDs - is sure to give fresh impetus to moves to prosecute our former prime minister for war crimes.

The case against Blair, strong enough before this latest comment, now appears rock solid. Going to war to change another country's regime is prohibited by international law, while the Nuremburg judgment of 1946 laid down that "to initiate a war of aggression", as Blair and Bush clearly did against Iraq, "is the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole".

Blair's admission, that he "would still have thought it right to remove him " regardless of the WMD issue, is also an acknowledgement that he lied to the House of Commons on February 25, 2003, when he told MPs: "I detest his regime. But even now he can save it by complying with the UN's demand. Even now, we are prepared to go the extra step to achieve disarmament peacefully. I do not want war... But disarmament peacefully can only happen with Saddam's active co-operation."

http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/57361,news-comment,news-politics,war-crime-case-against-tony-blair-is-now-rock-solid

[Raster]

4. As I have posted above, the case against cheney*/bush* for the illegal Iraq invasion and

subsequent laundry list of war crimes and international offenses will probably originate in Britain. Who knows, we may find the smoking gun for 9/11 via Britain also.

[Gregorian]

3. I keep hearing Jon Stewart's thug accent- "Sowhatugonnadoboutit?"

Judges, lawyers, politicians who commit crimes are very hard to prosecute because they're all part of the same social caste. Pinochet took how many decades?

But then I'm being cynical.