...sounds to me like saying rain is wet.
But its been oddly, quietly controversial since the catastrophic Bush/Blair Iraq atrocity, at least this side of the pond, the debacle being ruled to have been started not just on a false premise but on one that was known to be false at the time (ref The Chilcot Report).
So why am I writing about his now when I and innumerable others, have referred to Blair in this fashion for two decades while the rest of the world and much of the legacy media behaved as if with collective, selective amnesia?
A couple of weeks ago I received mail from the managing editor of Scotland’s newspaper The National informing me that IPSO (The UK’s Independent Press Standards Organisation) ruled in the paper’s favour re certain complaints. One such was a letter of mine referring to Tony Blair as a war criminal. Something I do regularly.
Many papers that have, for years, published my missives were shy of using the WC tag and simply ignored those letters that did.
Notably, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Bush’s Freudian slip where he referred to that atrocity as the invasion of ‘Iraq’, there was a subtle change. The Guardian for example, for the first time, published a letter where I’d used the WC tag.
IPSO ruled in the paper’s favour and mine.
Its odd in a way as it makes little material difference to me. I and many millions like me, will always know Blair is a war criminal even though he’s protected by the colour of his skin his wealth, power and connections, from ever facing consequences.
But why does this matter now?
The answers to that dark question are legion -
Because we are repeating ourselves.
Because at some point the truth always has to be acknowledged.
Because we cannot continue in a world where only certain people face consequences for their vast crimes while victims always pay in blood, misery and destroyed futures.
Because Trump is in Iran.
Because Putin is in Ukraine.
Because Netanyahu is in Gaza and Lebanon.
Because its always about resources (see blog 483 All Wars Are Resources Wars).
Because power, like wealth is more unevenly distributed than ever and the two are more closely linked than ever and the powerful and wealthy are spending on war not welfare. (NB - in the US 40m Americans live in poverty while Trump’s war has so far cost the US tax payer an estimated $25BILLION).
Because vast swathes of the populous are malleable and easily persuaded to act against their (the majority's) interests even more so now by the tech bros who manipulate all narratives and those bot-billionaires are, in turn, pandering those who control government and military might.
Because we are at the zenith of the collision of catastrophic Capitalism and war-mongering. Greed and war have always gone hand in hand as those who have, continue to grab grab grab feeding their endless want want want, they need to be backed up by fire power.
Because carrying on regardless, we may (as per last month’s post) be the first species on the planet to bring about our own destruction.
Finally in this ‘because’ list which could go on, we must acknowledge the devastating AI/social media associated decline in that singular commodity most precious to civilisation and the counterweight to greed and violence - human empathy.
And so it matters to me that the man who has been a major 21st century catalyst to the normalisation of the heightened destroy and grab, dominate and subjugate process and is deeply embedded in it still via his Tony Blair Foundation and who, stretching irony almost to breaking point, was an early joiner of Trump’s Board of Peace – should be called what he is, a WAR CRIMINAL.
To IPSO I am perhaps a little grateful for one thing, a tiny amount of vindication. More importantly, we must finally acknowledge the ‘war’ (illegal invasion) for the atrocity it was and Blair for the abomination that he is even though we continue to blindly repeat.
Its the least we can do for the dead, displaced and traumatised. Without even that small thing, we are all shameful and shameless.