Quotes of the Day 17th June 2014
"I have come to the conclusion that Tony Blair has finally gone mad. He wrote an essay on his website on Sunday (reproduced in the Telegraph) that struck me as unhinged in its refusal to face facts. In discussing the disaster of modern Iraq he made assertions that are so jaw-droppingly and breathtakingly at variance with reality that he surely needs professional psychiatric help."
"The reality is that before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, there was no al‑Qaeda presence in that country, none at all. Saddam was a ruthless Ba’athist tyrant who treated his population with appalling brutality. But he did not have anything to do with the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre, and he did not possess Weapons of Mass Destruction."
"The truth is that we destroyed the institutions of authority in Iraq without having the foggiest idea what would come next."
"The Iraq war was a tragic mistake; and by refusing to accept this, Blair is now undermining the very cause he advocates – the possibility of serious and effective intervention."
"It would be wrong and self-defeating to conclude that because we were wrong over Iraq, we must always be wrong to try to make the world a better place. But we cannot make this case – for an active Britain that is engaged with the world – unless we are at least honest about our failures. "
"Somebody needs to get on to Tony Blair and tell him to put a sock in it – or at least to accept the reality of the disaster he helped to engender. Then he might be worth hearing. The truth shall set you free, Tony."
(Extracts from an artice by Boris Johnson in the Daily Telegraph. You can read the whole article here.)
"Iraq was a moral, humanitarian and geo-political catastrophe. You will be hard pushed to find a single respected foreign affairs analyst who argues otherwise. And by trying to argue the opposite, supporters of Tony Blair are merely displaying the same level of ideological fanaticism as their opponents."
"It isn’t that people aren’t listening to him. They’re listening all right. And when they hear Tony Blair say 'we should do X' on foreign policy they say 'Right. If that’s what Blair thinks, we should do Y'."
"This isn’t about Tony Blair. Actually, it is. It’s about doing whatever we can, however imperfect, to try and right Tony Blair’s wrong. Yes, we may fail. But we have a duty to try."
(Of Tony Blair) "He and his supporters need to realise the only thing we need from him on Iraq is silence."
(Extracts from a Telegraph blog by Dan Hodges, normally an uber-Blairite, disavowing Blair's position on the causes of the problem in Iraq. You can read his full blog post here).
"The reality is that before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, there was no al‑Qaeda presence in that country, none at all. Saddam was a ruthless Ba’athist tyrant who treated his population with appalling brutality. But he did not have anything to do with the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre, and he did not possess Weapons of Mass Destruction."
"The truth is that we destroyed the institutions of authority in Iraq without having the foggiest idea what would come next."
"The Iraq war was a tragic mistake; and by refusing to accept this, Blair is now undermining the very cause he advocates – the possibility of serious and effective intervention."
"It would be wrong and self-defeating to conclude that because we were wrong over Iraq, we must always be wrong to try to make the world a better place. But we cannot make this case – for an active Britain that is engaged with the world – unless we are at least honest about our failures. "
"Somebody needs to get on to Tony Blair and tell him to put a sock in it – or at least to accept the reality of the disaster he helped to engender. Then he might be worth hearing. The truth shall set you free, Tony."
(Extracts from an artice by Boris Johnson in the Daily Telegraph. You can read the whole article here.)
"Iraq was a moral, humanitarian and geo-political catastrophe. You will be hard pushed to find a single respected foreign affairs analyst who argues otherwise. And by trying to argue the opposite, supporters of Tony Blair are merely displaying the same level of ideological fanaticism as their opponents."
"It isn’t that people aren’t listening to him. They’re listening all right. And when they hear Tony Blair say 'we should do X' on foreign policy they say 'Right. If that’s what Blair thinks, we should do Y'."
"This isn’t about Tony Blair. Actually, it is. It’s about doing whatever we can, however imperfect, to try and right Tony Blair’s wrong. Yes, we may fail. But we have a duty to try."
(Of Tony Blair) "He and his supporters need to realise the only thing we need from him on Iraq is silence."
(Extracts from a Telegraph blog by Dan Hodges, normally an uber-Blairite, disavowing Blair's position on the causes of the problem in Iraq. You can read his full blog post here).
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