Blair may cancel London appearance over protests

[deminks]

Source: Associated Press

LONDON — Tony Blair said Monday that he might cancel a planned public appearance in London to promote his new memoir because of potential disruption from protesters.

The former British prime minister told ITV television that a bookstore signing session could cause unnecessary "hassle and cost" for police. Protesters demonstrating against Blair's decision to join the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq hurled shoes and eggs at him in Dublin on Saturday.

Anti-war demonstrators plan to rally outside Blair's signing at a London bookstore on Wednesday, and Blair said he was also worried that the far right British National Party might attempt to cause trouble.

(snip)

A Facebook group calling on people to "subversively move Tony Blair's memoirs to the crime section in book shops" has more than 7,000 members. Members have submitted shots of the book sitting on the fantasy, true crime and horror shelves at stores.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jcXNTzupB83twmX2GvwFZ8V80dKQD9I2CMEO4

---

Fantasy, true crime, and horror shelves. Yup, that about sums up where the Poodle belongs.

[ixion]

1. he belongs in the Hague

Just sayin'...

[bherrera]

14. I am in full Agreement, Blair is a war criminal

I believe he is a war criminal because he supported and justified the Iraq invasion. He is also guilty of war crimes because he did the same during the 1999 incident when the USA and Great Britain bombed Kosovo.

[marmar]

2. Karma's a bitch for a war criminal.

:nopity:

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Blair's getting off easy. Can you "imagine" the choice words that John Lennon

would have had for him, *, Cheney, and the invasion?

[Turborama]

4. The news about that Facebook group and their activism deserves a rec in and of itself.

Facebook group found: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=150746811621277#!/group.php?gid=150746811621277&v=wall

As for Teflon Tony being worried about unnecessary "hassle and cost". I would say that is the ultimate understatement when describing the illegal invasion of Iraq and the subsequent aftermath.

His "concern" is duly noted.

[Turborama]

5. "it's not as if we need to do it," said Blair: If only he'd said that to the Bush junta in 2003. n/t

[Cirque du So-What]

6. Who coulda imagined that a neocon's poodle would be such a craven coward?

ME, for one! They just don't make 'war prime ministers' (or 'war pretzeldents,' for that matter) like they used to.

[sendero]

7. I'm so happy to see Blair's.....

... stupid-ass attempt at the rehabilitation of his reputation FAIL.

Guess what ASSHOLE, you don't get to make up a bunch of bullshit and claim you were making the correct decision.

[hlthe2b]

8. Bush's* book comes out in November...

let's see if we can hold to our principles then... :shrug:

[IndianaGreen]

13. Bush deserves the same reception as Blair

Can Americans match their antiwar brethren across the pond?

[Downwinder]

9. If he cancels, it is going to effect the egg market. n/t

[Lint Head]

10. We need to do more of this here.

I've been know to move books from authors responsible for war crimes in this country.

[Turborama]

11. It's official, the coward's cancelled it. "Blair Cancels London Book Signing"

Blair Cancels London Book Signing After Violent Dublin Protests

Sept. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Former U.K Prime Minister Tony Blair canceled a book-signing session in London to promote his memoir, citing concerns about security after he was pelted with eggs at a similar event in Dublin.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/09/05/bloomberg1376-L8BFEW1A74E901-33HDO8PTRDRULCLMVTUAF7KUL6.DTL#ixzz0ylAAGQ3Z

[IndianaGreen]

12. What a weasel and coward!

A war criminal that belongs on the same scaffold as Saddam.

[DavidDvorkin]

15. "They - they don't love me, after all!"

As I remember, he had originally planned a farewell tour of the UK when he left office, but he was advised to cancel that, too. I guess he expected sobbing, grateful throngs despairing that he was leaving.

[karynnj]

16. There is something SO British about the book moving effort

"A Facebook group calling on people to "subversively move Tony Blair's memoirs to the crime section in book shops" has more than 7,000 members."

I saw part of the This Week interview of Tony Blair. It was really interesting seeing his face redden and nervous gestures like moving his hand to scratch his neck (or something like that) when he spoke of Bush's intelligence, decisiveness, and when he defended the war.

He seemed to be in a time warp - speaking like an articulate version of Bush circa 2004 saying that the killing of 3000 people in Manhattan changed everything - it could have been 300,000. Unfortunately for the listener, Amapour did not perform the Kerry role in the debates, pointing out that the secular dictator Saddam did not attack us on 911, the jihadist Bin Laden did. More than 2008 Bush, Blair still is a true believer that they needed to invade Iraq to "send a strong message" after 911. (He ignores that the attacks on Afghanistan were also a response.) He mentions that Cheney envisioned a series of successful attacks - remaking the near east - Iraq, Syria, Iran, Somalia, and going after Hamas and Hezbollah. Though he did not say that he agreed, he did not say it alarmed him or that it was beyond crazy.

What is clear is that Blair's primary goal is his own reputation. In the book, whether intentional or not, he candidly wrote this when he said that politically he was a Democrat, who liked John Kerry and thought he would be a good president, but he thought a repudiation of Bush would be seen as a repudiation of his own actions. Thu he rooted for Bush.

I suspect that, if the book is similar to the content of the interview, it will further seal his reputation as negative. One interesting thought I had was that Blair is a convert to Catholicism. In the debates, when Kerry spoke of a "global test" as to whether a war was legitimate - the descriptors he used were really the Catholic concept of "just war". Invading Iraq does not meet this standard - and is by just war standards, not a "just war" - for many reasons, it was not a war of last resort and there was no plan to win the peace among other reasons. It might be that Blair can not mentally accept the fact that he and Bush were the two men most responsible for starting an unjust war - no matter what his motives at that point were.

[Ticonderoga]

17. It just sucks being a fucking war criminal doesn't it Tony?

[ihavenobias]

18. Kick n/t

[Solly Mack]

19. Put him where he belongs (prison) and this wouldn't be an issue.

Not that Blair being pelted with shoes and eggs bothers me any.

[SoapBox]

20. Hilarious! He's pull'n a "Palin" and a "Brewer"!

...I still say, let's have that good old fashioned book BURNING!

We can get St. Palin McMoneyWhore's for nothing and his will be on super-duper clearance by the end of the week.

[BeyondGeography]

21. Bad behavior by public officials is still scorned and penalized over there

:thumbsup: