Guardian;The five deceptions of Tony Blair

[Englander]

John Kampfner
Wednesday October 20, 2004
The Guardian

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9115,1331374,00.html


>>Did Tony Blair know the information going into the September 2002 dossier was wrong? Did he lie? These questions are difficult to answer as they rest on personal motive. They raise the bar too high. And yet the answers fit in to a pattern of other deceptions that began a year before the war and have continued to this day.

>>Back in April 2002, the prime minister committed himself in principle to backing George Bush's plans to remove Saddam Hussein, come what may. Recently leaked documents have confirmed this, and should be set against repeated statements by Blair and his ministers in the run-up to war that military conflict was "not inevitable". Five key deceptions followed Blair's commitment.

1) Saddam could be peacefully disarmed,
2) Foreign governments agreed on the intelligence,
3) The war was waged to protect the authority of the UN,
4) The French scuppered the second UN resolution,
5) The threat posed by Saddam's WMD was growing.


>> For all the apologies, non-apologies and semi-apologies about the intelligence on WMD, the ISG's report, the Butler findings and other evidence show that the falsehoods in the September 2002 dossier were anything but an aberration.<<

[Benhurst]

1. I'm beginning to think the sniveling little turd is a liar. n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. I'm beginning to wonder if he'll ever tell the truth again (n/t)