Tony Blair. War criminal,yes or no ?

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Is Tony Blair a War Criminal?

  • Yes

    Votes: 144 63.4%
  • No

    Votes: 83 36.6%

  • Total voters
    227






GT49er

Well-known member
Feb 1, 2009
46,993
Gloucester
Impressive political career and a superb Prime Minister. One huge foreign policy mistake has seen people lambast him as a hate figure but history will judge him kinder with the distance that time provides. IMO, like.
That "one huge foreign policy mistake" will be forever the way he is remembered. Rightly so, I'm sorry to say - up to then he was doing great, but just didn't have the balls to stand up to Bushscum and say "No".
 


BadFish

Huge Member
Oct 19, 2003
17,174
That "one huge foreign policy mistake" will be forever the way he is remembered. Rightly so, I'm sorry to say - up to then he was doing great, but just didn't have the balls to stand up to Bushscum and say "No".

This, some of his policies had a direct and lasting influence on my life and for that i am grateful. Can't ever forgive him for Iraq though.
 


French Seagull

Active member
Jul 30, 2014
618
France


If you type it in to google it says;

"someone who violates international law at the time of war"

Well I don't think he did this.

Should we have gone in? I think he acted on the best information he had been given (from the USA) hind sight is a wonderful thing, which shows we shouldn't have gone in,

I guess we like to blame someone, but parliament voted in favour (including the Conservatives) only the Liberals were against
 


symyjym

Banned
Nov 2, 2009
13,138
Brighton / Hove actually
War criminal, no. Misguided fool, yes. History will judge: his political legacy will forever be tarnished by one (very) stupid mistake.

If a war is justified people need little persuasion. Blair used all his recourses to hand including the likes of, that plum, Alastair Campbell to deliberately spin and sex it up.

To me that sounds like intent to deceive the British people, so a misguided fool is far too kind because we could easily say that about all criminals.

Preaching democracy is hypocritical when he went against the UN majority, and he is an insult to westernisation and what we are supposed to stand for.
 






mothy

Well-known member
Dec 30, 2012
2,140
Pretty much him & George started all the trouble we have now = misguided

Fundamental Christians (both) started wars on religious grounds = war criminals
 








heathgate

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Apr 13, 2015
3,517
No! And to be frank like Libya and Syria if we hadn't stuck our noses in I too think the world would be a safer place in general.
Of course it would have, of course the fundamentalist movement would have just disappeared, of course IS, Al Quaida, Beko Horam, Al Shabaab and any number of other Islamic groups never existed before Blair/Bush and of course they would have simply put their slippers on and retired to the coast,get into the real world, the Internet and satellite TV has made them more dangerous than they were before, now they have a global platform that they didn't have before, helps spread their evil message.
 


GT49er

Well-known member
Feb 1, 2009
46,993
Gloucester
.............a misguided fool is far too kind because we could easily say that about all criminals.

Taking your argument too far there. Ian Huntley, Roy Whiting ....... misguided, were they?

Blair made a huge mistake. Whether it was deliberate or not, only he will ever know. Probability is, though, that he thought it was right. Doubt if Huntley or Whiting ever believed that.
 




Biscuit

Native Creative
Jul 8, 2003
22,234
Brighton
Sorry mate but that is bullshit. :lolol:

The truth is you have no way of knowing, so there's very little point arguing about it. Personally I think people will look back at the huge success of the Labour Government under his premiership. Iraq or not he remains the only person to lead the Labour party to three consecutive general election victories. That's his legacy, every bit as much as Iraq.

Blair transformed Britain forever. Same sex-marriage, new maternity rights, the Equalities Act, adoption leave, new schools, a new hospitals programme, new builds getting access to brownfield sites, surestart... he also played a major role ending a centuriues-old conflict in Northern Ireland. Now I'm not saying the guy was the second-coming, clearly he had his faults, but I'm so bored of reading about "B.Liar" and his depiction of the devil incarnate - don't forget he was democratically elected as our Prime Minister even after the Iraq invasion. So if you want to talk about it, talk about it - but please let's leave the lazy charactuer-driven bullshit to one side. Isn't discussing a flawed human being infinitely more interesting?

Iraq was a total, unmitigated disaster. There's no doubt about that - but it did bring Iraqi democracy. Is there instability? Yes. Jesus Christ is there. It's awful seeing the news sometimes. And was it caused by Blair and Bush? Partly, yes. The reconstruction and exit plans were disgracefully shortsighted but that doesn't change the fact that the forces behind the Arab Spring, which have torn Syria apart, would have no doubt happened in Iraq if Saddam had stayed in power.

/rant
 


symyjym

Banned
Nov 2, 2009
13,138
Brighton / Hove actually
Taking your argument too far there. Ian Huntley, Roy Whiting ....... misguided, were they?

Blair made a huge mistake. Whether it was deliberate or not, only he will ever know. Probability is, though, that he thought it was right. Doubt if Huntley or Whiting ever believed that.

Child murderers is a little extreme to use as your example. I'm talking about the white-collar criminals, shoplifting food to feed a family or revenge crimes etc.

The fact that this Chilcot Inquiry has taken six years speaks volumes, and the longer it goes on for the more guilty he is.

What's his excuse for the delay? I would imagine he would want it cleared up asap if he was innocent, to the point he should also be showing frustration at the delay, but he's not complaining. Why?
 


GT49er

Well-known member
Feb 1, 2009
46,993
Gloucester
The truth is you have no way of knowing, so there's very little point arguing about it. Personally I think people will look back at the huge success of the Labour Government under his premiership. Iraq or not he remains the only person to lead the Labour party to three consecutive general election victories. That's his legacy, every bit as much as Iraq.

Blair transformed Britain forever. Same sex-marriage, new maternity rights, the Equalities Act, adoption leave, new schools, a new hospitals programme, new builds getting access to brownfield sites, surestart... he also played a major role ending a centuriues-old conflict in Northern Ireland. Now I'm not saying the guy was the second-coming, clearly he had his faults, but I'm so bored of reading about "B.Liar" and his depiction of the devil incarnate - don't forget he was democratically elected as our Prime Minister even after the Iraq invasion. So if you want to talk about it, talk about it - but please let's leave the lazy charactuer-driven bullshit to one side. Isn't discussing a flawed human being infinitely more interesting?

Iraq was a total, unmitigated disaster. There's no doubt about that - but it did bring Iraqi democracy. Is there instability? Yes. Jesus Christ is there. It's awful seeing the news sometimes. And was it caused by Blair and Bush? Partly, yes. The reconstruction and exit plans were disgracefully shortsighted but that doesn't change the fact that the forces behind the Arab Spring, which have torn Syria apart, would have no doubt happened in Iraq if Saddam had stayed in power.

/rant

Sorry, no, can't go with that. It was great having a Labour government - wish we had one now - but ........ destabilising the middle east wasn't just a bad mistake, it was a cataclysmic one. ISIS will commit atrocities in our country (Lee Rigby won't be the last) and innocent people will be killed. Horribly. Yes, that's certainly transformed Britain forever.
Tony Blair may only have made one mistake, but that will be what he is remembered for. His lethal legacy.
 




symyjym

Banned
Nov 2, 2009
13,138
Brighton / Hove actually
The truth is you have no way of knowing, so there's very little point arguing about it. Personally I think people will look back at the huge success of the Labour Government under his premiership. Iraq or not he remains the only person to lead the Labour party to three consecutive general election victories. That's his legacy, every bit as much as Iraq.

Blair transformed Britain forever. Same sex-marriage, new maternity rights, the Equalities Act, adoption leave, new schools, a new hospitals programme, new builds getting access to brownfield sites, surestart... he also played a major role ending a centuriues-old conflict in Northern Ireland. Now I'm not saying the guy was the second-coming, clearly he had his faults, but I'm so bored of reading about "B.Liar" and his depiction of the devil incarnate - don't forget he was democratically elected as our Prime Minister even after the Iraq invasion. So if you want to talk about it, talk about it - but please let's leave the lazy charactuer-driven bullshit to one side. Isn't discussing a flawed human being infinitely more interesting?

Iraq was a total, unmitigated disaster. There's no doubt about that - but it did bring Iraqi democracy. Is there instability? Yes. Jesus Christ is there. It's awful seeing the news sometimes. And was it caused by Blair and Bush? Partly, yes. The reconstruction and exit plans were disgracefully shortsighted but that doesn't change the fact that the forces behind the Arab Spring, which have torn Syria apart, would have no doubt happened in Iraq if Saddam had stayed in power.

/rant

I'm not going to go through your list but I think you will find that John Major set up Northern Ireland deal, and Education Education Education fell flat on it's face. But let's not divert away from the subject with glitter sprinkling.

The facts are the UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said that the was no WMD, and the UN was against the war. What this does is undermine the UN and what it stands for because it teaches the rest of the world to take no notice of them.

I am with the UN, Hans Blix and Kofi Annan on this, so my view is not unfounded.

Edit: The Syria and Libya problems have been mishandled but nothing went on without UN backing.
 
Last edited:




GT49er

Well-known member
Feb 1, 2009
46,993
Gloucester
Child murderers is a little extreme to use as your example. I'm talking about the white-collar criminals, shoplifting food to feed a family or revenge crimes etc.

The fact that this Chilcot Inquiry has taken six years speaks volumes, and the longer it goes on for the more guilty he is.

What's his excuse for the delay? I would imagine he would want it cleared up asap if he was innocent, to the point he should also be showing frustration at the delay, but he's not complaining. Why?

No doubt there are people in high places (including TB, no doubt) wanting to cover up their mistakes, but that doesn't mean they deliberately made the mistakes. We've probably all made mistakes, and we've probably tried not to admit to them, or cover them up, at some time or other.
 


symyjym

Banned
Nov 2, 2009
13,138
Brighton / Hove actually
No doubt there are people in high places (including TB, no doubt) wanting to cover up their mistakes, but that doesn't mean they deliberately made the mistakes. We've probably all made mistakes, and we've probably tried not to admit to them, or cover them up, at some time or other.

Should we listen to the UN or just blindly ignore them? What he did was a crime against humanity. Hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi's died, men, women and children, and a country flattened, all for the sake of one man, and he had a complete disregard to the horror and suffering these people would go through. This can never be justified.

When people kill by “mistake” they are usually charged with manslaughter. Some claim madness and use diminished responsibilities. Either way they are guilty of a crime even if they are just plain stupid.
 




Kuipers Supporters Club

Well-known member
Feb 10, 2009
5,686
GOSBTS
The truth is you have no way of knowing, so there's very little point arguing about it. Personally I think people will look back at the huge success of the Labour Government under his premiership. Iraq or not he remains the only person to lead the Labour party to three consecutive general election victories. That's his legacy, every bit as much as Iraq.

Blair transformed Britain forever. Same sex-marriage, new maternity rights, the Equalities Act, adoption leave, new schools, a new hospitals programme, new builds getting access to brownfield sites, surestart... he also played a major role ending a centuriues-old conflict in Northern Ireland. Now I'm not saying the guy was the second-coming, clearly he had his faults, but I'm so bored of reading about "B.Liar" and his depiction of the devil incarnate - don't forget he was democratically elected as our Prime Minister even after the Iraq invasion. So if you want to talk about it, talk about it - but please let's leave the lazy charactuer-driven bullshit to one side. Isn't discussing a flawed human being infinitely more interesting?

Iraq was a total, unmitigated disaster. There's no doubt about that - but it did bring Iraqi democracy. Is there instability? Yes. Jesus Christ is there. It's awful seeing the news sometimes. And was it caused by Blair and Bush? Partly, yes. The reconstruction and exit plans were disgracefully shortsighted but that doesn't change the fact that the forces behind the Arab Spring, which have torn Syria apart, would have no doubt happened in Iraq if Saddam had stayed in power.

/rant

Same Sex Marriage was passed in the last parliament (very different to Civil Partnerships)

Click of his fingers Saddam would have put down the opposition before it had even got outside. Just look at what he did to the Kurds.

New Labour did do a lot of good stuff, but people can not see past Iraq, just look at Corbyn, criticised by Blair and he replies with 'he's a war criminal', all of Blairs good work will be, and has been forgotten because of Iraq
 




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