History Forgave Churchill/Why Not Blair and Bush?

[Aidoneus]

History Forgave Churchill
Why Not Blair and Bush?
By MICKEY Z.

On July 17, 2003, U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair addressed a joint meeting of the U.S. House and Senate. The subject of WMD, of course, was on the front burner.

"If we are wrong, then we will have destroyed a threat that was at its least responsible for inhuman carnage and suffering,'' Blair said. "I am confident history will forgive.''

Blair's confidence is justified. History has forgiven U.K. leaders for plenty. How else, for example, could U.S. News and World Report have dubbed Winston Churchill "The Last Hero" in a 2000 cover story? In that article, Churchill was said to believe in "liberty, the rule of law, and the rights of the individual."

As Sir Winston himself declared: "History will be kind to me for I intend to write it."

--snip--

When not scheming a Bolshevik downfall, gassing the uncivilized, or comparing Palestinians to dogs, Churchill found time to write soulmate Benito Mussolini. In January 1927, Sir Winston gushed to Il Duce, "if I had been an Italian, I am sure I would have been entirely with you from the beginning to the end of your victorious struggle against the bestial appetites and passions of Leninism." Even after the advent of WWII, Churchill found room in his heart for the Italian dictator, explaining to Parliament in 1940:"I do not deny that he is a very great man but he became a criminal when he attacked England."

--snip--

http://www.counterpunch.org/mickey07192003.html

[JackSwift]

1. Churchill is loved for his wartime leadership

not his countless idiotic mistakes leading to one war after another.

[bemildred]

2. The issue is not whether you ever said anything stupid.

The issue is what did you do when given power?