Moral Authority

Nick Robinson says that Tony though his first speech on foreign policy was woefully under-reported. Well. I'm always willing to lend a hand, small though it may be.

Mr Blair criticised those who argued that attacking Iraq would fuel further violence among Muslims. It was, he said, all part of "a posture of weakness, defeatism and, most of all was deeply insulting to every Muslim who believes in freedom".


Mr Blair, no doubt, would also have been at the forefront of those advocating the introduction of internment in Northen Ireland in 1971. To argue that this would fuel further violence in the province, he'd have said, was all part of "a posture of weakness, defeatism and, most of all was deeply insulting to every Irish Catholic who believes in freedom".

What an arse.

Winning the battle of ideas? I think you'll find you need to be honest and trustworthy if you're going to try that. Best not to start by invading a country of Muslims for spurious reasons. Some Muslims, you see, might find being lectured to by a proven liar* deeply insulting. I'm not a Muslim but I know I do.

* Here's a version of the lie I've recently been reminded of. Asked about the lack of evidence of WMD -

"Well what there was, was evidence, I mean this is what our intelligence services are telling us and it's difficult because, you know, either they're simply making the whole thing up or this is what they are telling me, as the Prime Minister, and I've no doubt what the American Intelligence are telling President Bush as well. And that is that there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, we know they were there before [this refers to a previous question about why the weapons inspectors didn't find WMD in the sites mentioned in the dodgy dossier], but the Iraqis are now trying to conceal those."

Not a lie? Don't make me laugh/cry. The evidence wasn't there. Lord Butler's enquiry showed undeniably that what the intelligence services were actually telling Blair was that in their caveat laden judgement, based on limited sporadic and patchy intelligence, Saddam probably had WMD. And Blair lied about it. The liar.

Does anyone know why the Butler Inquiry website is offline, btw? I've not managed to access it for a couple off weeks now.

Tags: News, Politics, Tony Blair