Sunday, November 19, 2006

Occupation Isn't Liberation

This was how Tony Blair's Al Jazeera interview was reported in the Sunday Star Times:

Prime Minister Tony Blair has admitted the Irqa war has been a disaster, in an interview on Arab TV channel al-Jazeera. Challenged that western intervention had 'so far been pretty much of a disaster', Blair said: 'It has.' But he blamed resistance by insurgents rather than failures of planning.


What he actually said was:

He added: "But you see what I say to people is 'Why is it difficult in Iraq?' It's not difficult because of some accident in planning, it's difficult because there's a deliberate strategy - al-Qaeda with Sunni insurgents on one hand, Iranian-backed elements with Shiite militias on the other - to create a situation in which the will of the majority for peace is displaced by the will of the minority for war."


I think the Sunday Star Times summary is awesome, because it points out how ridiculous Tony Blair's argument is: "There was nothing wrong with our planning, the problem was that there were some people in Iraq that didn't want to be invaded." Which is presumably something that they should have planned for.

But he's right about one thing (I promise this will be the only time I will claim Tony Blair was right) - the problem of Iraq isn't a problem of poor planning. No amount of planning would have solved the fundamental problem which is that they should have stayed the fuck out of Iraq.

Right now, when people are thinking about 'other options' it's important to say loud and long that the only solution is to end the occupation.

5 comments:

  1. I was always under the impression that Tony Blair was fairly bright but it would seem that certain war lords are smart enough to second guess him and he isn't smart enough to return the favor (not surprised by that).

    Opposition by Sunni and Shiite militia is of course about as unpredictable as a rapist pleading not guilty.

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  2. woops I mean he nad buhs are not smart enough to return the favour (not surprised bush isn't)

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  3. Anonymous4:32 pm

    What really gets me is even after recognising that there are elements within Iraq that are undermining what he is trying to do, he still thinks he can succeed! Why? What the hell is different now compared to two or three years ago? Not many people would argue that things are better in Iraq now than they were a year into the occupation, so why would you think that you can achive now what you couldn't achive when things were more stable, and you actually had more support within the country?

    You are so right that the only way to even begin to let things heal and improve is to get the hell out. Things having been getting worse and worse on the ground, and even many top US and UK military officials have said so. I suspect that Tony Blairs main motivation in staying there now is to not go down in history as the man who f*cked up Iraq. I think its too late for that now, and staying is just compounding an already horrendous situation.

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  4. Anonymous9:45 am

    Certain people would prefer that the Iraqi people were still living under the boot of the Hussein regime. How sad.

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  5. Anonymous7:53 pm

    would you believe Iraq boils down to MATH?

    Math is a science and involves PROBLEMS.

    terrorism is a problem and Iraq is part of the solution

    how good is your math;)

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