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Related: About this forumBlair-Bush & Iraq: It’s not just the quagmire but the Lawbreaking & Deception
http://www.juancole.com/2014/06/quagmire-lawbreaking-deception.htmlBlair-Bush & Iraq: Its not just the quagmire but the Lawbreaking & Deception
By Juan Cole | Jun. 15, 2014
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is complaining that he is unfairly blamed for causing the current mess in Iraq and that if Saddam had still been in power it would be just as unstable.
He is, perhaps deliberately, missing the point. His invasion of Iraq was illegal and based on deception and propaganda. That was what was wrong with it. A quagmire that is the fruit of illegality and fraud is the worst.
The UN Charter allows of only two legitimate grounds for war. One is self-defense. Blair was not defending Britain from Iraq when he invaded and captured Basra.
Blair gave the opposite impression to the public. He delivered a bizarre speech in which he said that Saddam Hussein could deploy weapons of mass destruction against Europe in as little as 45 minutes. It is not even clear what that assertion could possibly have meant. Iraq had no delivery system for getting chemical weapons to Europe, and you couldnt have hoped to obtain so much as a sandwich in Baghdad in only 45 minutes. Saddam in any case had no such weapons. British officers scratched their heads and supposed that Blair had misunderstood some briefing he received.
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Blair-Bush & Iraq: It’s not just the quagmire but the Lawbreaking & Deception (Original Post)
unhappycamper
Jun 2014
OP
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)1. Could we really get Bush?
I mean couldn't Bush just say, "this is what the intelligence said?" This is what I gave Congress? Congress voted to allow me the means to attack Iraq. I am trying to see what direction could be used to have President Bush put in jail. Being dumb is not enough I don't think.
liberal N proud
(60,334 posts)2. Bu$h may be able to plead ignorance and people might believe him
But Cheney and the other criminals involved who cooked the intelligence and continuously repeated the lies should be prosecuted and jailed.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)3. K&R. nt