Wanted: Tony Blair For War Crimes. Arrest Him And Claim Your Reward

[Turborama]

Wanted: Tony Blair for war crimes. Arrest him and claim your reward


Chilcot and the courts won't do it, so it is up to us to show that we won't let an illegal act of mass murder go unpunished


George Monbiot
guardian.co.uk, Monday 25 January 2010 19.30 GMT

The only question that counts is the one that the Chilcot inquiry won't address: was the war with Iraq illegal? If the answer is yes, everything changes. The war is no longer a political matter, but a criminal one, and those who commissioned it should be committed for trial for what the Nuremberg tribunal called "the supreme international crime": the crime of aggression.

But there's a problem with official inquiries in the United Kingdom: the government appoints their members and sets their terms of reference. It's the equivalent of a criminal suspect being allowed to choose what the charges should be, who should judge his case and who should sit on the jury. As a senior judge http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/nov/23/chilcot-inquiry-iraq-war">told the Guardian in November: "Looking into the legality of the war is the last thing the government wants. And actually, it's the last thing the opposition wants either because they voted for the war. There simply is not the political pressure to explore the question of legality – they have not asked because they don't want the answer."

Others have explored it, however. Two weeks ago a http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/12/iraq-invasion-violated-interational-law-dutch-inquiry-finds">Dutch inquiry, led by a former supreme court judge, found that the invasion had "no sound mandate in international law". Last month Lord Steyn, a former law lord, said that "http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/dec/01/iraq-inquiry-interim-finding-illegal-law-lord">in the absence of a second UN resolution authorising invasion, it was illegal". In November Lord Bingham, the former lord chief justice, stated that, without the blessing of the UN, the Iraq war was "http://www.nowpublic.com/world/lord-bingham-iraq-war-violated-rule-law">a serious violation of international law and the rule of law".

Under the United Nations charter, two conditions must be met before a war can legally be waged. The parties to a dispute must first "seek a solution by negotiation" (http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/chapter6.shtml">article 33). They can take up arms without an explicit mandate from the UN security council only "if an armed attack occurs against (them)" (http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/chapter7.shtml">article 51). Neither of these conditions applied. The US and UK governments rejected Iraq's attempts to negotiate. At one point the US state department even announced that it would "go into thwart mode" to prevent the Iraqis from resuming talks on weapons inspection (all references are on http://www.monbiot.com/">my website). Iraq had launched no armed attack against either nation.

More:: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/25/bounty-blair-war-criminal-chilcot

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http://www.arrestblair.org/">This site offers a reward to people attempting a peaceful citizen’s arrest of the former British prime minister, Tony Blair, for crimes against peace. Anyone attempting an arrest which meets the rules laid down http://www.arrestblair.org/">here will be entitled to one quarter of the money collected at the time of his or her application.

The intention is to encourage repeated attempts to arrest the former prime minister. We have four purposes:

- To remind people that justice has not yet been done.

- To show Mr Blair that, despite his requests for people to “move on” from Iraq, the mass murder he committed will not be forgotten.

- To put pressure on the authorities of the United Kingdom and the countries he travels through to prosecute him for a crime against peace, or to deliver him for prosecution to the International Criminal Court.

- To discourage other people from repeating his crime.

More details: http://www.arrestblair.org/

Their Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=271159066031

[dipsydoodle]

1. That's one of the reasons they're all waiting outside

but its anticipated he'll be whisked away in the black limo whatever in which he arrived. Police have apparently restricted use of some streets to ensure a hasty getaway.

Taking him to Tyburn Hill might be appropriate.

[Turborama]

4. I just had a look at who's site it is

George Monbiot. I love that guy!

Edited the OP to add the Guardian piece.

[Gman]

2. How do we add Cheney to this?

and Rumsfeld, John Yoo and many others?

[dipsydoodle]

3. countries he travels through.......

there are already 50 or so such countries he dare not step foot in. They all have laws concerning the crime of aggression.

[Solly Mack]

5. K&R Seriously...it's the only decent option decent people have

and not just him either.

[ihavenobias]

6. Interesting

I hadn't heard about this.

[spanone]

7. don't forget his master...george w. bu$h*

[Turborama]

8. And his master, DICK Cheney

It could turn out to be a very long list.

[Turborama]

9. He did try to arrest John Bolton back in 2008. Here he is talking to Amy Goodman about it...

George Monbiot Attempts Citizen's Arrest on John Bolton.

Alleging War Crimes, British Activist, Writer George Monbiot Attempts Citizen's Arrest on Former UN Ambassador John Bolton

John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, escaped a citizen's arrest Wednesday night as he addressed an audience in Britain. We speak to George Monbiot, the British activist and columnist who tried to arrest Bolton. Monbiot says Bolton is a war criminal for his role in helping to initiate the US invasion of Iraq.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4bAqcQU0qU

[Mike_03]

10. Watching him today was like watching a fish tring to stay alive on the dock, out of water.

It was very embarrassing. But At least in the UK political hearings are more civil than they are here.