14.9.03
New old doubts surface about Blair's dossier
Well... no matter what the Hutton inquiry finally concludes, it is clear that Blair ignored doubts within the intelligence community about Iraq's WMD capability. In fact, it is clear that the Blair government had no clue what kind of WMD Iraq had or didn't have. That's been clear all along, but now documentary evidence is coming to light which forcefully drives this point home.
Of course, it goes without saying that if the Blair government had no clue, then Blair's master, George W. Bush, and Bush's masters, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Perle, and Wolfie, also had no clue. So why do we Americans, citizens of the "freest country in the world", have to rely on the British press to investigate this stuff for us? Why isn't the US media hitting Bush and company half as hard as the British press is hitting Blair? Why do we have such a sycophantic, suck-up media that insists on treating every preposterous utterance of the Bush administration seriously? Why do we get newspapers that you wouldn't use to wipe your ass, much less trust to do "investigative journalism"? What is wrong here?
Anyway, it is clear that Blair really should be stepping down soon. Perhaps one reason he isn't is because, as Krugman argued for the Bush regime, a major scandal "would burst into the light of day if the current management lost its grip on power". And that wouldn't be good for Bush. But it's not clear how much more Blair can take. So Britain should be thinking about who is going to lead the country after Tony's fat lady starts singing. Who can take over? No one in the current government (e.g., Straw) - they're all contaminated by association with Blair. The Tories are a joke, and the Liberal Democrats are too small and marginal. In my opinion, Britain's best bets - politicians who might be able to lead the UK away from its unhealthy puppy-master relationship with the US and steer it on a course more in line with the rest of Europe - are Robin Cook and my own personal favorite, London mayor "Red Ken" Livingstone.
Well, we'll see what Hutton and his inquiry come up with before getting our hopes up too high.
Well... no matter what the Hutton inquiry finally concludes, it is clear that Blair ignored doubts within the intelligence community about Iraq's WMD capability. In fact, it is clear that the Blair government had no clue what kind of WMD Iraq had or didn't have. That's been clear all along, but now documentary evidence is coming to light which forcefully drives this point home.
Of course, it goes without saying that if the Blair government had no clue, then Blair's master, George W. Bush, and Bush's masters, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Perle, and Wolfie, also had no clue. So why do we Americans, citizens of the "freest country in the world", have to rely on the British press to investigate this stuff for us? Why isn't the US media hitting Bush and company half as hard as the British press is hitting Blair? Why do we have such a sycophantic, suck-up media that insists on treating every preposterous utterance of the Bush administration seriously? Why do we get newspapers that you wouldn't use to wipe your ass, much less trust to do "investigative journalism"? What is wrong here?
Anyway, it is clear that Blair really should be stepping down soon. Perhaps one reason he isn't is because, as Krugman argued for the Bush regime, a major scandal "would burst into the light of day if the current management lost its grip on power". And that wouldn't be good for Bush. But it's not clear how much more Blair can take. So Britain should be thinking about who is going to lead the country after Tony's fat lady starts singing. Who can take over? No one in the current government (e.g., Straw) - they're all contaminated by association with Blair. The Tories are a joke, and the Liberal Democrats are too small and marginal. In my opinion, Britain's best bets - politicians who might be able to lead the UK away from its unhealthy puppy-master relationship with the US and steer it on a course more in line with the rest of Europe - are Robin Cook and my own personal favorite, London mayor "Red Ken" Livingstone.
Well, we'll see what Hutton and his inquiry come up with before getting our hopes up too high.
