LONDON -An unrepentant Tony Blair defended his decision to join the United States in attacking Iraq, arguing Friday before a panel investigating the war that the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks made the threat of weapons of mass destruction impossible to ignore.
The former British Prime Minister said that before Sept. 11 he thought "Saddam was a menace, that he was a threat, he was a monster, but we would have to try and make best."
The attacks on New York and Washington changed everything, he said.
Story Link: Blair offers justification for Iraq war
Blair offers justification for Iraq war
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Oscar Namechange
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Blair offers justification for Iraq war
Jazzy;1286441 wrote: LONDON -An unrepentant Tony Blair defended his decision to join the United States in attacking Iraq, arguing Friday before a panel investigating the war that the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks made the threat of weapons of mass destruction impossible to ignore.
The former British Prime Minister said that before Sept. 11 he thought "Saddam was a menace, that he was a threat, he was a monster, but we would have to try and make best."
The attacks on New York and Washington changed everything, he said.
Story Link: Blair offers justification for Iraq war I was waiting for today and couldn't wait to hear It.
Now I have heard It, I do believe that he has made his case well and had some good points.
I stand by what I have always said that the biggest down-fall of Sadam was Sadam himself. Due to his murderous and torturing ways, who was going to argue with him? For example: If he told his General to recruit an added 25,000 to the Iraqi Elite Guard ready to Invade Kuwait within a week otherwise the Generals family were likely to be slaughtered, the General was hardly going to report back to Sadam telling him he had only managed to recruit 1,000.
If Sadam ordered that his scientists create chemichal weapons or the likelyhood was that their familes were going to be slaughtered, they were hardly going to go back and report that they had failed. I do believe that over the years, the Iraqi Government and Military told Sadam what he wanted to hear to the point that Sadam himself believed he had a million strong Elite Guard and WMD's. Although, Hans Blix the weapons Inspectors did ask Blair and Bush for a further three weeks to be absolutely sure there were no WMD's and was Ignored, the threats made by Sadam to Iran for example had to be heeded. Blair could not really win. If he did not oust Sadam and his murdorous sons, and Sadam really did have the capability of an all out attack on Iran, and carried It out, It could have been devastating.
The former British Prime Minister said that before Sept. 11 he thought "Saddam was a menace, that he was a threat, he was a monster, but we would have to try and make best."
The attacks on New York and Washington changed everything, he said.
Story Link: Blair offers justification for Iraq war I was waiting for today and couldn't wait to hear It.
Now I have heard It, I do believe that he has made his case well and had some good points.
I stand by what I have always said that the biggest down-fall of Sadam was Sadam himself. Due to his murderous and torturing ways, who was going to argue with him? For example: If he told his General to recruit an added 25,000 to the Iraqi Elite Guard ready to Invade Kuwait within a week otherwise the Generals family were likely to be slaughtered, the General was hardly going to report back to Sadam telling him he had only managed to recruit 1,000.
If Sadam ordered that his scientists create chemichal weapons or the likelyhood was that their familes were going to be slaughtered, they were hardly going to go back and report that they had failed. I do believe that over the years, the Iraqi Government and Military told Sadam what he wanted to hear to the point that Sadam himself believed he had a million strong Elite Guard and WMD's. Although, Hans Blix the weapons Inspectors did ask Blair and Bush for a further three weeks to be absolutely sure there were no WMD's and was Ignored, the threats made by Sadam to Iran for example had to be heeded. Blair could not really win. If he did not oust Sadam and his murdorous sons, and Sadam really did have the capability of an all out attack on Iran, and carried It out, It could have been devastating.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them. R.L. Binyon
Blair offers justification for Iraq war
What B Liar did was illegal. One doesn't invade a country just to change a regime!
I'm a Saga-lout, growing old disgracefully
Blair offers justification for Iraq war
if only robin cook had been around. Just to remind you what he had to say.
Robin Cook's Resignation Speech
BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Cook's resignation speech
Iraq's military strength is now less than half its size than at the time of the last Gulf war.
Ironically, it is only because Iraq's military forces are so weak that we can even contemplate its invasion. Some advocates of conflict claim that Saddam's forces are so weak, so demoralised and so badly equipped that the war will be over in a few days.
We cannot base our military strategy on the assumption that Saddam is weak and at the same time justify pre-emptive action on the claim that he is a threat.
Iraq probably has no weapons of mass destruction in the commonly understood sense of the term - namely a credible device capable of being delivered against a strategic city target.
It probably still has biological toxins and battlefield chemical munitions, but it has had them since the 1980s when US companies sold Saddam anthrax agents and the then British Government approved chemical and munitions factories.
Why is it now so urgent that we should take military action to disarm a military capacity that has been there for 20 years, and which we helped to create?
Why is it necessary to resort to war this week, while Saddam's ambition to complete his weapons programme is blocked by the presence of UN inspectors?
He saw right through tony liar.
It has been a favourite theme of commentators that this House no longer occupies a central role in British politics.
Nothing could better demonstrate that they are wrong than for this House to stop the commitment of troops in a war that has neither international agreement nor domestic support.
Boy was he right about that one. they all should be in the dock.
posted by oscar
Now I have heard It, I do believe that he has made his case well and had some good points.
Bollocks bollocks and bollocks again.
Robin Cook's Resignation Speech
BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Cook's resignation speech
Iraq's military strength is now less than half its size than at the time of the last Gulf war.
Ironically, it is only because Iraq's military forces are so weak that we can even contemplate its invasion. Some advocates of conflict claim that Saddam's forces are so weak, so demoralised and so badly equipped that the war will be over in a few days.
We cannot base our military strategy on the assumption that Saddam is weak and at the same time justify pre-emptive action on the claim that he is a threat.
Iraq probably has no weapons of mass destruction in the commonly understood sense of the term - namely a credible device capable of being delivered against a strategic city target.
It probably still has biological toxins and battlefield chemical munitions, but it has had them since the 1980s when US companies sold Saddam anthrax agents and the then British Government approved chemical and munitions factories.
Why is it now so urgent that we should take military action to disarm a military capacity that has been there for 20 years, and which we helped to create?
Why is it necessary to resort to war this week, while Saddam's ambition to complete his weapons programme is blocked by the presence of UN inspectors?
He saw right through tony liar.
It has been a favourite theme of commentators that this House no longer occupies a central role in British politics.
Nothing could better demonstrate that they are wrong than for this House to stop the commitment of troops in a war that has neither international agreement nor domestic support.
Boy was he right about that one. they all should be in the dock.
posted by oscar
Now I have heard It, I do believe that he has made his case well and had some good points.
Bollocks bollocks and bollocks again.
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Oscar Namechange
- Posts: 31842
- Joined: Wed Jul 30, 2008 9:26 am
Blair offers justification for Iraq war
gmc;1286658 wrote: if only robin cook had been around. Just to remind you what he had to say.
Robin Cook's Resignation Speech
BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Cook's resignation speech
He saw right through tony liar.
Boy was he right about that one. they all should be in the dock.
posted by oscar
Bollocks bollocks and bollocks again.
That's rubbish. even If Robin Cook were still alive, he would have had his warnings Ignore by Jack Straw the same as all the key figures who objected.
I actually loathe Tony Blair but my hatred for him Is not so much about Iraq, more NOOOOOOOOOO LABOUR that bred a cabinet of loony left half-wits.
The more I listened to him giving his evidence and the more I think about It, I actually have a suspicion that this Is all about 'Who can we blame'. It's about finding a scapegoat to let others off the hook and appease relatives of fallen troops who frankly, i don't believe should have a say In it. Yes, I know the proverbial will hit the fan for my saying that.
Your being hypocritical gmc because in other threads you have asked Gordon Brown to be held to account as well as the rest of the Cabinet. Now your piling the blame high on Blairs head. Make your mind up will you? You flit from one scenario to another.
As It happens, I do believe It was an Illegal Invasion of a Soveriegn Nation which breached the Geneva Convention. That Is the crux that they should be concentrating on. Instead, Tonight, I have watched the mother of one young troop fallen In Iraq talking about it not being fair that Tony Blair has got a nice big house and now her son won't have one. That kind of emotional rubbish is what is clouding the enquirey. I have every sympathy for the families of the fallen out there. I do not want to see our own nephews come home in body bags from Iraq but the sentimental, emotional claptrap is clouding the Issue. Let the enquirey deal with the facts.
Robin Cook's Resignation Speech
BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Cook's resignation speech
He saw right through tony liar.
Boy was he right about that one. they all should be in the dock.
posted by oscar
Bollocks bollocks and bollocks again.
That's rubbish. even If Robin Cook were still alive, he would have had his warnings Ignore by Jack Straw the same as all the key figures who objected.
I actually loathe Tony Blair but my hatred for him Is not so much about Iraq, more NOOOOOOOOOO LABOUR that bred a cabinet of loony left half-wits.
The more I listened to him giving his evidence and the more I think about It, I actually have a suspicion that this Is all about 'Who can we blame'. It's about finding a scapegoat to let others off the hook and appease relatives of fallen troops who frankly, i don't believe should have a say In it. Yes, I know the proverbial will hit the fan for my saying that.
Your being hypocritical gmc because in other threads you have asked Gordon Brown to be held to account as well as the rest of the Cabinet. Now your piling the blame high on Blairs head. Make your mind up will you? You flit from one scenario to another.
As It happens, I do believe It was an Illegal Invasion of a Soveriegn Nation which breached the Geneva Convention. That Is the crux that they should be concentrating on. Instead, Tonight, I have watched the mother of one young troop fallen In Iraq talking about it not being fair that Tony Blair has got a nice big house and now her son won't have one. That kind of emotional rubbish is what is clouding the enquirey. I have every sympathy for the families of the fallen out there. I do not want to see our own nephews come home in body bags from Iraq but the sentimental, emotional claptrap is clouding the Issue. Let the enquirey deal with the facts.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them. R.L. Binyon
Blair offers justification for Iraq war
oscar;1286722 wrote: That's rubbish. even If Robin Cook were still alive, he would have had his warnings Ignore by Jack Straw the same as all the key figures who objected.
I actually loathe Tony Blair but my hatred for him Is not so much about Iraq, more NOOOOOOOOOO LABOUR that bred a cabinet of loony left half-wits.
The more I listened to him giving his evidence and the more I think about It, I actually have a suspicion that this Is all about 'Who can we blame'. It's about finding a scapegoat to let others off the hook and appease relatives of fallen troops who frankly, i don't believe should have a say In it. Yes, I know the proverbial will hit the fan for my saying that.
Your being hypocritical gmc because in other threads you have asked Gordon Brown to be held to account as well as the rest of the Cabinet. Now your piling the blame high on Blairs head. Make your mind up will you? You flit from one scenario to another.
As It happens, I do believe It was an Illegal Invasion of a Soveriegn Nation which breached the Geneva Convention. That Is the crux that they should be concentrating on. Instead, Tonight, I have watched the mother of one young troop fallen In Iraq talking about it not being fair that Tony Blair has got a nice big house and now her son won't have one. That kind of emotional rubbish is what is clouding the enquirey. I have every sympathy for the families of the fallen out there. I do not want to see our own nephews come home in body bags from Iraq but the sentimental, emotional claptrap is clouding the Issue. Let the enquirey deal with the facts.
Oscar I am beginning to find this very irritating. READ THE POSTS PROPERLY BEFORE YOU REPLY.
That's rubbish. even If Robin Cook were still alive, he would have had his warnings Ignore by Jack Straw the same as all the key figures who objected.
What planet are you on-Robin cook did object at the time, his warnings were ignored and he in fact resigned over the matter. It is a pity he is not alive now to give evidence since he was privy to all the discussions and intelligence reports that straw and others are left to give their own accounts of. Had he lived I suspect we would have had a different leader of the labour party.
Your being hypocritical gmc because in other threads you have asked Gordon Brown to be held to account as well as the rest of the Cabinet. Now your piling the blame high on Blairs head. Make your mind up will you? You flit from one scenario to another.
Read what was actually posted
Boy was he right about that one. they all should be in the dock.
I actually loathe Tony Blair but my hatred for him Is not so much about Iraq, more NOOOOOOOOOO LABOUR that bred a cabinet of loony left half-wits.
The more I listened to him giving his evidence and the more I think about It, I actually have a suspicion that this Is all about 'Who can we blame'. It's about finding a scapegoat to let others off the hook and appease relatives of fallen troops who frankly, i don't believe should have a say In it. Yes, I know the proverbial will hit the fan for my saying that.
Your being hypocritical gmc because in other threads you have asked Gordon Brown to be held to account as well as the rest of the Cabinet. Now your piling the blame high on Blairs head. Make your mind up will you? You flit from one scenario to another.
As It happens, I do believe It was an Illegal Invasion of a Soveriegn Nation which breached the Geneva Convention. That Is the crux that they should be concentrating on. Instead, Tonight, I have watched the mother of one young troop fallen In Iraq talking about it not being fair that Tony Blair has got a nice big house and now her son won't have one. That kind of emotional rubbish is what is clouding the enquirey. I have every sympathy for the families of the fallen out there. I do not want to see our own nephews come home in body bags from Iraq but the sentimental, emotional claptrap is clouding the Issue. Let the enquirey deal with the facts.
Oscar I am beginning to find this very irritating. READ THE POSTS PROPERLY BEFORE YOU REPLY.
That's rubbish. even If Robin Cook were still alive, he would have had his warnings Ignore by Jack Straw the same as all the key figures who objected.
What planet are you on-Robin cook did object at the time, his warnings were ignored and he in fact resigned over the matter. It is a pity he is not alive now to give evidence since he was privy to all the discussions and intelligence reports that straw and others are left to give their own accounts of. Had he lived I suspect we would have had a different leader of the labour party.
Your being hypocritical gmc because in other threads you have asked Gordon Brown to be held to account as well as the rest of the Cabinet. Now your piling the blame high on Blairs head. Make your mind up will you? You flit from one scenario to another.
Read what was actually posted
Boy was he right about that one. they all should be in the dock.
Blair offers justification for Iraq war
G#Gill;1286655 wrote: What B Liar did was illegal. One doesn't invade a country just to change a regime!
I'll say it again ! THE INVASION OF IRAQ WAS ILLEGAL!!!!! So why isn't Tony B Liar and Dubbya and their assistants arrested for war crimes ?
I'll say it again ! THE INVASION OF IRAQ WAS ILLEGAL!!!!! So why isn't Tony B Liar and Dubbya and their assistants arrested for war crimes ?
I'm a Saga-lout, growing old disgracefully
Blair offers justification for Iraq war
G#Gill;1286853 wrote: I'll say it again ! THE INVASION OF IRAQ WAS ILLEGAL!!!!! So why isn't Tony B Liar and Dubbya and their assistants arrested for war crimes ?
The US has not signed up to the international court in the hague and do not accept it's jurisdiction. International law is viewed as a convenient tool to be ignored when it suits. Our politicians are all implicated in this since thy did nothing to stop the war once it became abundantly clear blair had lied. If they try blair it does rather beg the question how the leader of the british government got away with it since he has no authority apart from what parliament allows.
The US has not signed up to the international court in the hague and do not accept it's jurisdiction. International law is viewed as a convenient tool to be ignored when it suits. Our politicians are all implicated in this since thy did nothing to stop the war once it became abundantly clear blair had lied. If they try blair it does rather beg the question how the leader of the british government got away with it since he has no authority apart from what parliament allows.