If you believe what you read nowadays, the US and Britain are in deep ka-ka. Not only are their nations losing much of their international credibility, but their leaders, Messrs Blair and Bush have been accused of "lying" to wage a war under "false pretenses". Heavy stuff.
Jeff Ooi has "written a comperehensive post":http://www.jeffooi.com/archives/000420.php that is essential reading for anyone interested in the above.
My concern (or, rather, prediction) is: so what if US/UK- Blair/Bush lied? Not anyone is going to do anything about it. Perhaps Blair's government and the Republicans will be voted out next time elections are acalling. But really, that is the ABSOLUTE LIMIT of the repercussions of their actions. No one is going to drag the US or the UK to dock in the UN ("the Security Council is a dismal failure":http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20030501faessay11217/michael-j-glennon/why-the-security-council-failed.html), or pull Blair or Bush in front of the "ICJ":http://www.icj-cij.org/. Even in the pages of history (assuming the adage that history is written by the victors in true) will probably mention their alleged indiscretions as mere blips on the radar.
Let's not delude ourselves with righteous indignation: it doesn't matter that they lied to us. Even if we had known the truth (which as it turns out we did all along), it wouldn't have made a difference. And even now, even when the truth is revealed about how wrong the war was, the difference matters even less.
Leave a comment