BBC News: How Tony Blair came to be so unpopular
How Tony Blair came to be so unpopular, http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-36746453, dated 9th July 2016
A couple of short extracts:
When the Twin Towers came down nine months after Bush entered the White House, Blair's words were the most powerful that Americans heard from abroad - eloquent, and from the heart.
Most of them knew little of him but, by the time he went to Washington for private conversations in the days after 9/11, he had already started to take on heroic status. And some of those with him on that day marked a decisive change in his demeanour and belief after talking with Bush, alone in the Blue Room of the White House.
...
I once heard Hillary Clinton in a private moment expressing astonishment at his lack of doubt, using a withering American phrase popularised after the Jonestown mass suicide. "What's happened to Tony," she asked. "He's started drinking the Kool Aid."
She meant that he had abandoned all caution and every sliver of scepticism. And he had. Although it would be foolish to suggest that he didn't understand the cost of war, nor give it deep thought, his loyalty to Bush had become so strong after 9/11 that it trumped everything else.
--- end short extracts ---
Ravi: Of course, it should not be forgotten that then Sen. Hillary Clinton voted for the Iraq war, even though she later acknowledged her vote to have been a mistake.
My guess, just a guess though a kind-of informed guess, is that 9/11 was such a horrific attack and tragedy for sole superpower USA that its leaders and many in its populace wanted to hit back at perceived, I repeat perceived, enemies who may have contributed to the attack or rejoiced at the attack. When a great power is hit and is furious, you don't mess around with it, even with words. If I recall correctly, then USA President George W. Bush threatened then Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf with bombing that would send Pakistan back to the stone age, if Pakistan did not cooperate with USA in its efforts to find and punish the perpetrators of that horrific 9/11 attack on (mostly) non-combatant civilians in the USA! Musharraf wisely cooperated with George Bush.
In my view, Saddam Hussein should have cooperated with George Bush then in opening up Iraq to WMD inspectors, simply because of the awesome power that sole superpower USA had. Forget sovereignty of a country and all that. Just looking at the raw military power that USA had, Saddam Hussein should have cooperated. That would have saved his countrymen from the horrible, horrible suffering that they have undergone for over a decade now, and which has not ended even now. I think one could say that Saddam did not suffer that much as he was caught and executed! That seems mild compared to the living Hell that Iraq has become for many of its residents.
Please note that in my above comments, I am not getting into moral right and wrong.
[I thank bbc.com and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above short extracts from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
A couple of short extracts:
When the Twin Towers came down nine months after Bush entered the White House, Blair's words were the most powerful that Americans heard from abroad - eloquent, and from the heart.
Most of them knew little of him but, by the time he went to Washington for private conversations in the days after 9/11, he had already started to take on heroic status. And some of those with him on that day marked a decisive change in his demeanour and belief after talking with Bush, alone in the Blue Room of the White House.
...
I once heard Hillary Clinton in a private moment expressing astonishment at his lack of doubt, using a withering American phrase popularised after the Jonestown mass suicide. "What's happened to Tony," she asked. "He's started drinking the Kool Aid."
She meant that he had abandoned all caution and every sliver of scepticism. And he had. Although it would be foolish to suggest that he didn't understand the cost of war, nor give it deep thought, his loyalty to Bush had become so strong after 9/11 that it trumped everything else.
--- end short extracts ---
Ravi: Of course, it should not be forgotten that then Sen. Hillary Clinton voted for the Iraq war, even though she later acknowledged her vote to have been a mistake.
My guess, just a guess though a kind-of informed guess, is that 9/11 was such a horrific attack and tragedy for sole superpower USA that its leaders and many in its populace wanted to hit back at perceived, I repeat perceived, enemies who may have contributed to the attack or rejoiced at the attack. When a great power is hit and is furious, you don't mess around with it, even with words. If I recall correctly, then USA President George W. Bush threatened then Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf with bombing that would send Pakistan back to the stone age, if Pakistan did not cooperate with USA in its efforts to find and punish the perpetrators of that horrific 9/11 attack on (mostly) non-combatant civilians in the USA! Musharraf wisely cooperated with George Bush.
In my view, Saddam Hussein should have cooperated with George Bush then in opening up Iraq to WMD inspectors, simply because of the awesome power that sole superpower USA had. Forget sovereignty of a country and all that. Just looking at the raw military power that USA had, Saddam Hussein should have cooperated. That would have saved his countrymen from the horrible, horrible suffering that they have undergone for over a decade now, and which has not ended even now. I think one could say that Saddam did not suffer that much as he was caught and executed! That seems mild compared to the living Hell that Iraq has become for many of its residents.
Please note that in my above comments, I am not getting into moral right and wrong.
[I thank bbc.com and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above short extracts from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
Comments
Post a Comment