We awaken this morning to advance snippets from a forthcoming interview with TB about his religious beliefs. One wonders if, in advance of his appearance at the Chilcot enquiry, this interview is very wise. He appears to be digging himself ever deeper. He is laying open his position and exposing it to early dissection and allowing the preparation of highly tuned questioning. The full interview is due to be screened tomorrow on BBC1 which many of us will watch with great interest. But, subject to that, here is what we have learnt so far:-
And so, in the admitted absence of any perceived instructions from an Imaginary Magic Friend he took on himself the decision of what was best for the thousands of unconsulted men, women and children who were thereby inevitably condemned to be killed, maimed, and have their property destroyed.
Surely these life & death decisions are those that religious believers usually reserve for their IMFs. Christian believers in particular adopt a range of positions from outright pacifism to the use of minimum force required to prevent greater evils. The greatest evil to come out of Iraq War was the death of the innocents. Thousands are gone who would otherwise have been alive, perhaps not under an ideal government but with at least hope of change; and the best way to help them would have been to work slowly behind the scenes to weaken Saddam's sway or just be ready for his eventual demise.
One is forced to the conclusion that TB believes he is somehow entitled to act in loco deus, and the sincerity of his "faith" is highly suspect.
- TB would have felt it was "right" to go to war to topple Saddam even without WMDs because of the "threat" he posed to the "stability" of the region.
- This decision was not informed by his religious faith.
And so, in the admitted absence of any perceived instructions from an Imaginary Magic Friend he took on himself the decision of what was best for the thousands of unconsulted men, women and children who were thereby inevitably condemned to be killed, maimed, and have their property destroyed.
Surely these life & death decisions are those that religious believers usually reserve for their IMFs. Christian believers in particular adopt a range of positions from outright pacifism to the use of minimum force required to prevent greater evils. The greatest evil to come out of Iraq War was the death of the innocents. Thousands are gone who would otherwise have been alive, perhaps not under an ideal government but with at least hope of change; and the best way to help them would have been to work slowly behind the scenes to weaken Saddam's sway or just be ready for his eventual demise.
One is forced to the conclusion that TB believes he is somehow entitled to act in loco deus, and the sincerity of his "faith" is highly suspect.
The more I learn about what he believes, the more I think he suffers from mental illness. If a schizophrenic kills someone, all we hear is how the someone, somewhere, didn't do enough to prevent the tragedy. In Blair's case, I regard his cabinet (apart from Clare Short, who resigned over the issue) as equally culpable. They didn't do enough to stop him.
ReplyDeleteYes I agree. And had he not been prime minister it would not have been a worry. But his cabinet being in close personal contact should surely have seen through him. No doubt they had eyes to their own careers while being partially blinded by his charisma.
ReplyDeleteIt concerns me that TB was deceitful when trying to become prime minister with the whole 'we don't do God' thing. Alistair Campbell knew that the British public would see him as being irrational if he discussed his faith at that point – an interesting difference we have to our American friends.
ReplyDeleteI have just watched the whole interview. At one point he said "Faith can't tell you the right thing". Obviously his modus operandi was to decide what he wanted to do, and then to use his faith to provide himself with some kind of reassurance. One could infer that knowing that this reassurance was available he could afford to be more dismissive than a non-believer of the terrible human consequences of invading Iraq.
ReplyDeleteTony Blair is at best a hypocrit, at worst a lunatic. He mentioned himself in an interview with Parkinson that he "spoke to God" prior to his decision to invade Iraq and that God will judge him. He thus gave the most piss poor excuse for sending his country to war. I don't know if he does God, but God sure did him then.
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