I wonder if someone could explain to me why the Chilcott report on Iraq is four years late. If Labour was in power, I could imagine all sorts of conspiracy arguments, but they’re not and haven’t been since 2010. Since then, we have had a right wing Tory government in which some Liberals had jobs. I think we should be told.
My loyal reader may recall that I left Labour back in 2003 when Mr Blair leapt on George Bush’s coat tails and took us into a catastrophic invasion of a foreign country. To my horror, most people at the time supported the invasion and it was almost an act of treason to publicly oppose what I saw as a crazy, almost criminal act. And maybe it was a criminal act.
Tony Blair’s misjudgement cost him his legacy, which was one of three general election victories, and ever since then he has seemed slightly mad defending his indefensible decision. I’d go so far as to say that there is a reasonable chance Blair would still be a major political figure in this country today but for Iraq, but there’s no way back for him unless Chilcott vindicates his judgement, which I can’t believe he will.
I am not of the view that the growing rise of islamic fascism throughout the Middle East and parts of Africa is solely down to Blair and Bush. It was already well underway by 2003, but I can’t but think that the toppling of Saddam, who was undoubtedly an evil tyrant, accelerated the process. If the world was not a safe place 12 years ago, it’s a damn less safe place today.
But we need to know what really happened and we need to know now. Whether or not David Cameron reaps a political windfall is beside the point. If it damages Blair and Labour, then it’s just too bad. The impending election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader will confine Labour to the sidelines for a generation anyway, so we had might as well get the bad news out of the way now. (It will be interesting to hear what Corbyn says at the dispatch box in the House of Commons, replying to the PM when the report is finally issued.)
It is the families of those who were killed in Iraq, the servicemen and women who have returned with horrifying disabilities and the hundreds and thousands of ordinary Iraqis who have seen their country descend into utter chaos that really matter. And all for a reckless, needless war halfway round the world.
Iraq makes it very difficult for those of us who saw the Labour governments from 1997 as generally good governments, especially now when many people are being reminded just how awful it is to live under a Tory government. The Blair years were by no means perfect and as well as his wars, his adherence to some aspects of Thatcherite privatisation and the loose regulation of the banks tarnished his reputation, as well as failing to make Britain a more equal, fairer and meritocratic country. But things were a lot better than what we have now and people would do well to remember that.
History waits for no man and it certainly won’t wait for Blair and on this I agree with Corbyn that if Blair has been seen to have committed any form of war crimes, he will need to face the same examination as Slobodan Milosevic, the butcher of the Balkans, for whom of course the squeaky clean Corbyn was a loyal apologist.
Publish and be damned.
