Bright shining Lie with bloody Hands

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=67918

Tony Blair : A Bright Shining Lie
(with thanks to Neil Sheehan.)

Felicity Arbuthnot

 

 

July 14, 2010

"Now all my lies are proved untrue
And I must face the men I slew.
What tale shall serve me here among
Mine angry and defrauded young?"
(Epitaphs of War, Rudyard Kipling, 1865-1936.)

We live in strange times. In October 2009, the fledgling President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for: " .. his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples." He was: "surprised and deeply humbled", accepting it as : "a call to action." Oh good, more "... diplomacy and co-operation ...?" Not quite.

Two months later Barack Hussein Obama announced that killing more Afghans and throwing $'s millions in to doing it was his first priority. (He didn't quite put it like that. He told an audience at West Point * that the deployment of 30,000 additional troops was a goal vital to: "the common security of the world." It would: " ... break the Taliban’s momentum and increase Afghanistan’s capacity ..." Goals would not be set: "... beyond our responsibility, our means, or our interests.")

Six and a half months in to 2010 US ied (impovised explosive device) deaths alone are 188, already exceeding the 152 for the whole year of 2008, in "Operation Enduring Freedom." Total deaths for 2009 within Afghanistan were 317, this year they are already 231. (1) Youthful dismemberments, disfigurements, and deaths, on a hiding to nowhere, are seemingly part of those "interests." Enduring freedom indeed, from life and limb, with of course, Afghan killings and casualties: "not productive to count."

Under this shining example of all the Nobel Peace Prize now stands for, US drones are killing citizens of Pakistan,Yemen and Somalia. Iran is in the cross hairs and Poland has had the dubious honour of hosting US missiles, to protect it in case it is attacked by - Iran, according to the seemingly increasingly delusional US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton.

In to this Orwellian world, enter "Teflon Tony" Blair, set to collect the latest in a glittering array of Awards for services to humanity. His contribution to the betterment of mankind, has included enjoining the United States, in the Afghanistan invasion and between 1997 and 2003, in the silent cull of an average of six thousand Iraqi children a month, instructing Britain's UN officials to veto everything from vaccines to ventolin, insulin to incubators and intubators, paper to pencils, female hygiene appliances, to aids for children at the schools for the blind and deaf.

After six years of this decimation, under his watch, added to the previous seven under his predecessor, John Major, Blair's officials cooked up a pack of lies. He ignored the advice of his top Law Lord, Lord Goldsmith, and joined his little friend on Capitol Hill, in reducing what remained of the Cradle of Civilization, to an illegally invaded pile of rubble, the destruction of swathes of its ancient history and historical records, and the lynching, "disappearing" of and imprisoning of a legitimate government, whose sovereignty was guaranteed by the United Nations.

Recent estimates are than a further million Iraqis have died since the invasion, almost certainly an under estimate, since those in remoter areas are often unrecorded, as those who died in vast numbers at the sieges of Najav,Tel Afar, the two assaults on Falluja and numerous other mass murders.

Lord Goldsmith, it now transpires, had written in his advice, six weeks before the invasion of Iraq: "My opinion is that Resolution 1441 does not revive the authorisation to use force ... in the absence of a further decision by the Security Council." Barrister Blair scribbled in the margin: "I just do not understand this." Did any one ask which part of "No", he could not grasp? Two weeks later the legal opinion was reiterated in a further note.

Blair of course, walked from this carnage, to be Middle East Peace Envoy, telling Parliament on his resignation: "As I learned ... it is important to be able to bring people together ..." He can undoubtedly do delusion with some of the greats. As William Blum recently pointed out :

'General Augusto Pinochet of Chile, mass murderer and torturer: "I would like to be remembered as a man who served his country."
P.W. Botha, former president of apartheid South Africa: "I am not going to repent. I am not going to ask for favours. What I did, I did for my country."
Pol Pot, mass murderer of Cambodia: "I want you to know that everything I did, I did for my country."
Tony Blair, former British prime minister, defending his role in the murder of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis: "I did what I thought was right for our country." '(2)

Patriotism is indeed the last refugee of the scoundrel.

Blair certainly did what he "thought was right" for Tony Blair. As Peter Oborne pointed out in March : "We now know that the wretched Blair has multiplied his personal fortune many times over by trading off the connections he made while in Downing Street. Shockingly, he fought a long battle to conceal the source of his new-found wealth, and only this month did it finally become public that one of his largest clients was a South Korean oil company, the UI Energy Corporation, with extensive interests in Iraq ... he has also made £1million from advising the Kuwaiti royal family. It can be fairly claimed that Blair has profiteered as a result of the Iraq War in which so many hundreds of thousands of people died ... in the league of shame, Tony Blair is arguably the worst of them all." (3)

And the rewards for being an ally in mass starvation and murder, keep rolling in.The latest is the 2010 Liberty Medal, awarded by the US Constitution Centre (plus $100,000 prize money. Small change compared to the estimated $20 million he's raked in since leaving office, but every little helps.)

The Liberty Medal, according to the Constitution Center: ".. reflects the values of the US Constitution - a belief in justice, fairness, self-governance ... a balance between individual rights and communal responsibility, in the power of the epople ... and in resolving issues through deliberation,, compromise and respect for diverse viewpoints."

It is to be presented to him by his close friend and fellow Iraqi childrens' tormenter, "Bomber" Bill Clinton, who says of Blair : " ... Tony continues to demonstrate the same leadership, dedication and creativity in promoting economic opportunity in the Middle East and the resolution of conflicts rooted in religion around the world, and is building the capacity of developing nations to govern honestly and effectively. I'm pleased the Constitution Center is awarding him the Liberty Medal in recognition of his work to promote the actions necessary to make peace, reconciliation, and prosperity possible.

"Economic opportunity" indeed.

If your head is not yet over a bucket, David Eisner, President and CEO of the National Constitution Center, said: "Tony Blair has significantly furthered the expansion of freedom, self-governance, equality and peaceful coexistence. This award recognizes both his dedication to and his success in building understanding among nations and creating lasting solutions in areas of conflict."

"TeflonTony" responded: "It is an honor to receive the Liberty Medal ... Freedom, liberty and justice are the values by which this medal is struck. Freedom, liberty and justice are the values which I try to apply to my work ... preparing the Palestinians for statehood. They are the values which drive ... as we try to show that people of different faiths can live together constructively, in peace and harmony."

He will be donating the prize money to two of his charities. He said the same thing when he won $'s one million in February 2009 with the Dan David Award, from the Tel Aviv based Dan David Foundation, for his: "..steadfast determination and morally courageous leadership ..." Revolving doors come to mind.

A month earlier he had been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush for being " ... a true friend of the United States (who has) at his very centre (belief) in freedom." Tell that to the Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians with the ghettoised people of Gaza. He was in good company, receiving it with Australia's former Prime Minister John Howard and Columbian President Alvaro Uribe, both adherents to Blair and Bush's particularly unique interpretation of freedom.

In July 2009, he pitched up to collect his Fenner Brockway Award, in London (for: " ...shared vision ... global role in working for justice and security.") with a black eye. Had someone finally found a dark night, a dark alley and a baseball bat?

Incidentally, six of those who were awarded the Liberty Medal, have gone on to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. It was Tom Lehrer who said: "Satire became redundant the day Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize." No longer.

Blair may already share something with Kissinger: checking with his legal advisers every time he boards a 'plane, should he be arrested for war crimes on arrival.

And just another reminder, George Orwell's real name was Eric Arthur Blair.

*30th November 2009.
1.http://www.icasualties.org
2. http://www.killinghope.org
3. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1260204/Tony-Blair
s-legacy-sleaze-cleaned-up.html#ixzz0tAqgpoDn ...



:: Article nr. 67918 sent on 14-jul-2010 17:58 ECT www.uruknet.info?p=67918

Tony Blair : A Bright Shining Lie. (Part two.)

Felicity Arbuthnot

 

 

July 18, 2010

Part I

"If justice and truth take place,
If he is rewarded according to his just desert,
His name will stink to all generations."
(William Wesley, 1703-1791.)

It has been a good couple of weeks of medal gathering for Charles Anthony Lynton Blair, QC. To add a lucrative and glittering array (1) he has added to the (30th June) announcement of the (US) National Constitution Center's Liberty Medal, the award of a second "Freedom Medal" (first, January 2009, from the US) on 10th July.

The man who scribbled: "I just do not understand this", in the margin of the advice from his top Law Lord, that the the invasion of Iraq would be illegal without a second United Nations Resolution, ignored, or dodged legalities, committing his country to the destruction of a sovereign nation, has been honoured again, this time, some might say, appropriately.

The awarding country is Kosovo, where the rule of law, it seems, has yet to become the rule of thumb.

According the the (US) Overseas Security Advisory Council, "Kosovo 2010 Crime and Safety Report", there is: " ... a high level of crime ... violent crimes can and do occur - even in downtown (capitol) Pristina ... stay alert ...If you normally carry a wallet ... put it in a front pocket and put your hand in your pocket to hold onto it when in a crowd. Better yet, leave your wallet with your driver’s license and U.S. department store credit cards in the hotel safe. When walking with a purse or bag (ensure) it is closed and tuck it under your arm ...

Do not leave your purse or bag over the back of your chair at a restaurant, watch that no one kicks your bag or purse out from under your table at a restaurant, and be particularly vigilant of where you place your belongings when at a sidewalk café. Make a copy of your passport data page and carry the paper copy instead of your actual passport ... it is inadvisable to use (credit cards) for incidental purchases, each use increases the chance of compromise." Using an ATM should be "avoided."

If the visitor decides the rural scenery might be preferable: "Driving is becoming increasingly dangerous (with) a 30% increase in traffic fatalities ... and a 55% increase in hit-and-run incidents. Defensive driving is a must (but) given the sharp increase in injuries and deaths, it may not be enough. Do not drive unless you really have to, and limit your driving to hours of daylight ..."

Avoid public celebrations, a magnet for pickpockets - and people are : "...occasionally, killed by the falling bullets." Still set on the ultimate living-on-the edge adventure holiday? ".... the relative availability of ... weapons has led to ... RPG attacks, grenade attacks, and use of automatic weapons—even in downtown Pristina."

"All international security and intelligence agencies regularly portray a dismaying image of the province, a sort of 'European Medellin or Cali.' " (3)

It also has to be wondered if "I'm a pretty straight forward sort of guy", Blair, has read any of the reports on the level of corruption in this State he supported with characteristic gung-ho righteousness:

"Drug barons in (neighbouring) Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia (with links to the Italian Mafia) had become the new economic elites, often associated with Western business interests. In turn, the financial proceeds of the trade in drugs and arms were recycled towards other illicit activities (and vice versa) including a vast prostitution racket between Albania and Italy." Albanian criminal groups operating in Milan: "have become so powerful running prostitution rackets that they have even taken over the Calabrians in strength and influence."

Further: "The application of "strong economic medicine', under the guidance of the Washington based Bretton Woods institutions, had contributed to wrecking Albania's banking system and precipitating the collapse of the Albanian economy. The resulting chaos enabled American and European transnationals to carefully position themselves. Several Western oil companies including Occidental, Shell and British Petroleum had their eyes riveted on Albania's abundant and unexplored oil-deposits. Western investors were also gawking Albania's extensive reserves of chrome, copper, gold, nickel and platinum.... " (4) In 1999, one mine owner told a journalist that the region including Kosovo, was "the Balkans' Kuwait."

And for the thrill seeker, just getting out of Pristina airport might present the challenge sought. In March 2009, the UN Secretary General's Office devoted a long Report on corruption levels at the airport, after an investigation by the UN's International Task Force. It included:

The Deputy General Manager of Pristina Airport having a criminal conviction for "the trafficking of persons across borders ..."

"Allegations of theft and corruption arising out of the collection of handling and landing fees and de-icing costs for passenger aircraft using Pristina Airport .."

And "The Task Force also received reports that some commercial Airlines had been the subject of extortion in the payment for landing slots ..." Eye watering amounts in fraudulent cargo charges were also also recorded as disappeared, and there was misappropriation of funds from everything from huge sums meant for ventilation, to heating to car park construction.(5)

In May 2009 The American Council for Kosova noted, in "Organised Crime in Kosova":
"As can be seen by the documents, cash and projects that should have helped the people, lined the pockets of crooks, cronies and dodgy officials ... it now appears that this money has disappeared, raising all kinds of questions about the ... unaccountable organisations running countries. (6)

This then, is the country to whom Blair is unreservedly, a hero. Streets are named after him. For his visit, Pristina was plastered with posters of Blair, lauding him as: "A Leader. A Friend. A Hero." Seemingly not one defaced with "Bliar", "Liar", "War Criminal" or "Blair Lied, Thousands Died." He was met by the Prime Minister, and "serenaded by the Kosova Ceremonial Guard."

In the main square (also named after him) it transpired that children too are named after him: "Tonybler" (not satire.) He met nine Tonyblers, all nine years old, honouring him for the 1999 bombardment, of the former Yugoslavia - as Iraq, without a United Nations Resolution, and largely cooked up with his friend Bill Clinton (who is to present him with the Liberty Medal.)

Bill Clinton has an eleven foot bronze statue in Pristina. Hope it is well bolted down, shame if it found its way to a smelt to be flogged off in small lots.

The Toniblers sang: "We are the World", in Blair's honour. "He is a very great man", said one little lad. Some still believed in fairies when they were nine. The gold Freedom Medal was presented to him by President Fatmir Sejdiu. The Tonibler's hero said what he always says of unmitigated atrocities: "I did what was right. I did what was just. I did not regret it then. I do not regret it now."

What was "right" and "just" included 35,000 bombing sorties between 24th., March and 11th., June 1999. As David North wrote (wsws.org) three days after the bombardment ended: "Nearly all the major highways, railways and bridges have been extensively bombed. The electrical transformers, central power plants and water filtration systems upon which modern urban centers depend are functioning at only a fraction of their pre-bombardment capacity. Several hundred thousand workers have lost their livelihoods because of the destruction of their factories and workplaces. Several major hospitals have suffered extensive bomb-related damages. Schools attended by a total of 100,000 children have been damaged or destroyed." Cluster bombs were dropped on residential areas.

The great Danube river, 2,850 kms long - immortalised by Johann Strauss's haunting "Blue Danube Waltz" - which rises in the Black Forest and falls in to the Black Sea, defeated Charlemagne's tinkering in 793, and flowed through the centuries, but the pollutants unleashed in to it by the bombing, are reminiscent of some of the world's most catastrophic environmental vandalism. Fish and bird life floated, poisoned, on the surface, with eco-systems lost, decimated, beneath.

Further war crimes included the bombing of the building housing Serbia's state television and international networks, a passenger train on a railway bridge (twice) markets, the Chinese Embassy ("wrong map") a prison, killing eighty five prisoners - also bombed previously, killing a guard and three inmates - petro-chemical and car plants, industrial sites, releasing vast amounts of carcinogenic pollutants - and the use of depleted uranium weapons which has left the terrain, as Iraq and Afghanistan, a haunting of cancers and birth defects, to stalk not alone current, but future generations throughout the region. Kosovo may yet rue its gratitude.

There were some small setbacks in Blair-land over the same period though. It has transpired that when Prime Minister, he had over-ruled the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's efforts to provide a British citizen, held in Zambia, to provide Consular support to his return to the UK. He was subsequently "rendered' to Guantanamo. With five hundred thousand additional documents now having been identified as possibly relevant regarding the alleged relationship between the UK and US relating to possible co-operation over transfers to Guantanamo, under Blair's tenure as Prime Minister, a few clouds might yet be forming over "Teflon Tony."

In context, it is perhaps pertinent to record, that in the dying days of her Premiership, Margaret Thatcher, who many would argue, outdid stubborn and right wing: "... came under pressure from British spies to be complicit in the use of torture." She thought and consulted and: " ... in her very last days in power, issued instructions to the intelligence services: that they were not in any circumstances 'to use intelligence that might in any way have come from torture.' We know this from the extraordinary testimony of the former British Diplomat, Craig Murray,* who under questioning by MPs revealed that British policy on torture was explicitly changed under the Blair regime."(7) Trafficking for torture comes to mind.

His publishers, Random House might also be asking questions as to the wisdom of their £4.6 million advance on his memoirs, not officially due out until 1st September. He was reportedly forced to change the name from "The Journey" to "A Journey", the latter sounding "less messianic." Whatever, it can already be bought on Amazon for £12.37 (down from yesterday's £14.99) the official retail price being £25.00. Six new copies are available "from £6.38." Gravitas is further eroded by it being listed next to: "The Bartenders Assistant : A Guide for the Journey" (£4.99.)

Of Blair's book title, a less than generous spirited friend emailed: "To the Hague?" She is undoubtedly not alone.

But if all collapses, there will be a little corner of the world, that will, for the moment, for ever welcome "Tonybler." A place he could feel at home. Perhaps in a governmental advisory position. Honoury President - even advising the Deputy Manager of the Airport.

Oh, and wonder if he got that gold Freedom Award out, unscathed.


1. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=20136
2. https://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=114370
3. http://www.worldpress.org/Europe/2722.cfm
4. http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/apr1999/kla-a10.shtml (Chossudovsky.)
5. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/0139
7/brunopdf_1397401a.pdf
6. http://www.savekosovo.org/default.asp?p=5
* Former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Biography, "Murder in Samarkand."
7. Peter Oborne, Daily Mail, 17th June 2010.


:: Article nr. 68054 sent on 19-jul-2010 04:30 ECT www.uruknet.info?p=68054