British involvement in Iraq war blamed on Blair’s ‘sycophancy’

[emad]

Source: times

British soldiers were sent to their deaths in Iraq because of Tony Blair’s “sycophancy” towards Washington and the failure of the governing class to speak the truth, a former prosecutions chief says today.

The Chilcot Inquiry will be held in contempt if it does a “whitewash” by omitting to disclose details of a “foreign policy disgrace of epic proportions”, Sir Ken Macdonald, QC, Director of Public Prosecutions until last year, says in an article for The Times.

In perhaps the most serious charges levelled by a former public servant against an ex-Prime Minister, Sir Ken says Mr Blair engaged in an “alarming subterfuge” with George Bush, and then misled and cajoled the British people into a war they did not want.

Mr Blair’s fundamental flaw was his sycophancy towards those in power, he says. “Perhaps this seems odd in a man who drank so much of that mind-altering brew at home. But Washington turned his head and he couldn’t resist the stage or the glamour that it gave him.”

Read more: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6955325.ece

---

Ken Macdonald QC is a former business associate of Cherie Blair's; they both belong to Matrix Chambers in London.

Red pill or blue pill.....

[emad]

1. Here is one war angle that has been systematically trampled on in a

bipartissan Tory/Labour whitewash:

CounterPunch

January 29, 2003
Blackout in Britain
Alleged Pedophiles Helm Blair's War Room

by MIKE JAMES


SNIP:
A child-sex scandal that threatened to destroy Tony Blair's government last week has been mysteriously squashed and wiped off the front pages of British newspapers. Operation Ore, the United Kingdom's most thorough and comprehensive police investigation of crimes against children, seems to have uncovered more than is politically acceptable at the highest reaches of the British elite. In the 19th of January edition of The Sunday Herald, Neil Mackay sensationally reported that senior members of Tony Blair's government were being investigated for paedophilia and the "enjoyment" of child-sex pornography:

"The Sunday Herald has also had confirmed by a very senior source in British intelligence that at least one high-profile former Labour Cabinet minister is among Operation Ore suspects. The Sunday Herald has been given the politician's name but, for legal reasons, can not identify the person.

There are still unconfirmed rumours that another senior Labour politician is among the suspects. The intelligence officer said that a 'rolling' Cabinet committee had been set up to work out how to deal with the potentially ruinous fall-out for both Tony Blair and the government if arrests occur."

MORE:
http://www.counterpunch.org/james01292003.html

[Festivito]

2. Didn't, then, we go to war because Britain said it had the proof?

Without that, we did not have enough reason to go, if I recall correctly.

[myrna minx]

3. It was Blair's ballyhooed "dossier" - along with Bush's 16 words:

"The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa ” that gave the illusion that there was "evidence" from independent intelligence sources that Hussein had WMD.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/02/uk_dossier_on_iraq/html/full_dossier.stm

[Turborama]

4. K&R Glad to see the noose is tightening n/t

[keitai]

5. What a shame.

It is a real shame that the most successful Labour leader in British history was also it's most opportunistic and amoral. Waste of talent.

[BlueMTexpat]

6. My theory was that Blair had been "Stepfordized"

(i.e., murdered and replaced by a robot as per the Ira Levin thriller, not the film sequel starring Nicole Kidman) during his 2002 visit to *'s "ranch." He never seemed quite human after that in his relentless, even enthusiastic march to war in Iraq.
He certainly never seemed like the same leader that he had been before. Even his close political friends and erstwhile allies like the late Robin Cook literally did not recognize his politics.

[blm]

7. You mean Clintonized. Many forget that Bill was Blair's closest advisor then and he was selling war

for Bush, not just to Blair, but, to the Dem lawmakers in DC.

[BlueMTexpat]

13. I don't recall ever reading an Ira Levin thriller entitled "The Clinton Wives."

And that was my term of reference, which I thought that I had explained in my post.
Whether Clinton was "selling war" or not (Could you please also cite a source for that happening at the moment that Blair visited * at his ranch in 2002? Was Clinton there at the time? Most who knew Blair remarked a clear change in his attitude after that visit.), I don't believe that the term "Clintonized" has the specific meaning that I intended.

[blm]

14. I got your reference and the impact of the ranch visit. But Blair was being prepped by Bill

long before the ranch visit. In fact, when Bill was president he wanted to invade Iraq, but, at the time, the allies would not join him, and he finally decided to not go in alone.

What happened at the ranch was more visible, and likely due to the unique 'pressure' Bushes have always been able to put on those they need. Early in Bush's term, his people threatened Blair with economic ruin for England if he didn't play ball with them. Blair gave up then and even further after 9-11. At the time of the ranch visit he just completely donned the poodle outfit and never again made even a show of resistance to Bush's will.


http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Blair+hitch+project:+how+Clinton's+ideological+fellow+traveler+became+...-a0114477548

>>>>>>
"Be his friend. Be his best friend. Be the guy he turns to." That was the advice Bill Clinton gave his close ally and ideological fellow traveler Tony Blair
weeks before Clinton was to hand over the reins of power to George W. Bush.

In the annals of diplomacy, it's not the most sophisticated theory of great-power politics, but it proved to be effective. In their first joint news conference in February 2001, when asked if the two leaders had anything in common, Bush responded that they both used Colgate toothpaste. Many--including those in Blair's inner circle--thought that dentifrice was the beginning and end of the discussion. After all, Blair was not only Clinton's buddy and contemporary, at ease among the cosmopolitan elites of Britain and the United States he was the co-architect of the "Third Way" progressive response to the conservatism that Bush held dear. More than that, as National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice explained to a British official early in his term, "You should really know, the President doesn't feel comfortable with Europeans. He much prefers Latin Americans.

Despite his lack of Hispanic heritage, Blair and the new president did become friends, and their bond deepened after the attacks of September 11. Bush had no stronger ally in the buildup to and invasion of Iraq than Blair. He withstood defections from his party's backbenches, protests in the streets of London, and growing alienation from his allies in Western Europe
>>>>>

[defendandprotect]

8. Remember having a lot of hope for Blair in the beginning ... boy was I wrong!!!

[blm]

15. Yep - Clinton and Blair couldn't bend over for BushInc fast enough.

.

[Turbineguy]

9. ‘sycophancy’

Or for us ordinary people: 'Bush's poodle'.

[Karenina]

11. See: Steve Bell

He's got a zillion of them! Here's just one!

http://adrastos.blog-city.com/blair_plays_bushs_poodle_one_last_time.htm

:rofl:

[Turbineguy]

12. Oooohh. That's just bad!

I like it.

[KansDem]

10. "...his sycophancy towards those in power, he says."

I used to think "those in power" were there because they were the "best and the brightest." Now I realize they're evil, sick, and perverted f*cks who will hold on to power any way they can.