Sir, – Jeremy Corbyn was right. Tony Blair was catastrophically wrong. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN O’BRIEN,
London.
Sir, – The publication of the Chilcot report is a damning indictment of Tony Blair’s judgment and his entire career in politics. The report found that “all peaceful options were not exhausted” before the UK joined the US in declaring war on Iraq. It also found that further sanctions and monitoring would have curtailed any alleged ambitions Saddam Hussein had to develop weapons of mass destruction.
The principles of a just war clearly define that the aim of war must not be to pursue narrowly defined national interests, but rather to re-establish a just peace. This peace should be preferable to the state of peace had the war not occurred. It also states that there must be a probability of success and, most importantly, only as a last resort.
The reality is that the US with the UK were pursuing narrowly defined national interests. It is no coincidence that Iraq has oil resources. This war completely unravelled the economic, social and religious fabric of Iraq and plunged it into 13 continuous years of war. Most notably it gave birth to one of the most barbaric terrorist organisations to have existed, Isis.
That invasion sowed the seeds of revolution in the Arab world and brought civil war, conflict and destruction to millions of innocent people. The refugee crisis currently being witnessed in Europe is a direct result of American and British jingoism and the lurid ambitions of two egotists. It cannot be attributed to anything else since the reasons people are fleeing the Middle East have their roots firmly in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The question now is whether Tony Blair will face any charges for his role in the 2003 invasion. Or is the International Criminal Court reserved for third world despots who have fallen out of favour with their first world financiers?
If justice is ever to be served, if the victims of neo-imperial violence are ever to be acknowledged, then Tony Blair and George W Bush should be held accountable and stand trial at the ICC.
No man should be above the law. No state, no matter how powerful, should determine the fate of another, or the future of its unborn generations. – Yours, etc,
PHILIP JONES,
Artane,
Dublin 5.
Sir, – So it was actually Bush and Blair who stockpiled and wielded the oldest of all weapons of mass destruction – plausible misinformation. – Yours, etc,
BARRY CURRIVAN,
Clondalkin,
Dublin 22.
Sir, – Your journalists are in the habit of quoting Alistair Campbell’s views on health, what makes “winners”, and why Labour in Britain has been on the wrong path since his former boss quit.
If you see fit to publish the views of that spin doctor on any subject other than why Tony Blair was a warmonger and a menace to world peace, I will abandon the habit of over 40 years and stop buying The Irish Times. – Yours, etc,
PATRICIA O’RIORDAN,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – Days before the invasion of Iraq, Mohamed ElBaradei told the Security Council that the International Atomic Energy Agency had “found no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons programme in Iraq”.
Hans Blix, head of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, said there was “no evidence of prohibited weapons programmes”.
George Bush and Tony Blair went ahead “to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger”. – Yours, etc,
Dr JOHN DOHERTY,
Vienna.
Sir, – Britannia waives the rules. Again! – Yours, etc,
PATRICK WARD,
Kilkenny.
Sir, – So Tony Blair will “take full responsibility for any mistakes”. What does this mean? Precisely nothing. – Yours, etc,
SEÁN Ó COILEÁIN,
Carraig Ruacháin,
Corcaigh.