Which Muslim Women Does Lauren Booth speak for? [Guest Post from Ms Jupiter]

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31st October 2011

Below is a guest post by a freelance writer.

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Nowadays there is a familiar face of a woman in hijab that frequently graces the pages of many daily British newspapers.

Lauren Booth attends a protest against islamophobia and racism organised by the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (ICCS), in Bern October 29, 2011. REUTERS/Michael Buholzer (SWITZERLAND)

Her name is Lauren Booth and like the name suggests she is English.

So who is this lady and why does she appear so often in newspapers like the Daily Mail and the Guardian? By looking at her one might guess that she has opinions on herself and why she chose to be the way she is.  It may well be a case where she will have her own life story as a milestone to share with others.  Anything that she will say will be marked with a strong conviction about adopting an ideology which will give her some sort of identity.

But wherever Ms Booth’s name appears there is another name that follows: that of her brother-in-law Tony Blair, the former British prime minister. The press for obvious reasons have relished the idea of pairing the two of them. And all sorts of conjuring thoughts have been paired together to suggest just how bizarre it is that both of them are related.

One of them is the support for the Palestinian state.

Tony Blair at the moment is assigned as the Mideast Quartet representative; to oversee the efforts to resolve issues for the statehood for both the Israelis and the Palestinians. Lauren Booth has chosen to classify herself as a pro-Palestinian activist, which has earned her a lot of acknowledgment in some Muslim countries. In addition to this she has made it publicly known of her criticism of Tony Blair for the Iraq war intervention.

Tony Blair with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to discuss peace negotiations

When it comes to her conversion to Islam Lauren Booth is very vocal about it and has been going around the globe giving talks on a western woman’s perspective about converting to Islam.

Lauren Booth at a news conference next to Majjati, the wife of a Salafist Muslim in jail, in Morocco October 26, 2011. Booth, who converted to Islam late last year, is the sister-in-law of former British premier Tony Blair. Picture taken October 26, 2011. REUTERS/Stringer (MOROCCO)

Time and again she comes in the media as a face and a voice to endorse the so-called perspective which will give a stamp of identity, if Islam is adopted as a means to wear it as a distinctive badge. The voices of adulations praising her efforts are many. In fact too many. They have all praised her as an example of what Islam should be if a woman chooses to come in the public wearing a covering over her head. She has on numerous occasions spread the word on how illuminated she felt during an experience which transformed her into a new person, and finally led her to accept Islam.

She is the brand of new converts to Islam in the Western world. These women encouraged by their own experiences then seek to advance their own knowledge by speaking out about it. It will not be a surprise that many women coming from Muslim countries to the US and Europe are influenced by their views and then seek to be transformed in the same manner, as if their former experiences had little bearing to who they were and where they came from. They are taken aback by these new convert women’s rich experiences and seem to downcast their own identity. My question to such women would be must we give in to what others have to preach about Islam? Some of us come from Muslim countries, where the culture and its values have given us a homogenous Islamic atmosphere. Why do we have to feel we are any less if we do not confine ourselves to what others believe about Islam?

It may not go amiss if women like Lauren Booth go around the Muslim world and talk to women for the need to educate themselves in a way that they become constructive members of their societies, learning to participate with other communities; because more importantly it is the need to build bridges and foster good relations between different communities that is needed in today’s world. What good is an education that is fostering segregation? How far can you go if you believe in it?! And what about the Muslim women who do not believe in segregation? Are we to feel deprived and less fortunate than the ones who are the way Lauren Both is? The badge of humility seems to be missing when Lauren Booth chooses to stand in front of a congregation at a university to speak out about her own experiences. That is an easy option and probably something that gets her attention straight away. Reaching out to communities and trying to change their perspectives is a hands-on job and much harder.

She is outspoken about her criticism on Tony Blair.  But would she be famous if she were not related to Tony Blair? Without that link her conversion probably would not have taken her so far.  But if I were her, and I was genuine I would have objected to having my name placed next to a person of whom I disapproved.  I would have stood up for my own identity and would have insisted people know me as who I am and not because of who I am related to.

Ends

Ms Jupiter

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Recent comments:

I am staggered by all the hate directed towards our former Prime Minister. I believe that Tony Blair made the Iraq decision in good faith and is most certainly NOT a war criminal. If anyone should be tried at the Hague it should be those in the media for totally misrepresenting the information and facts. The media are to blame for fuelling this hatred as it is purely driven by them. (UK)

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The greatest and most successful leader the Labour Party has ever had with the courage to fight the Islamist terrorists who really would like to kill us all, and you never hear a good word about him. The herd of independent minds, commentators, activists etc who have never had to make a difficult decision in their lives drown out all debate with their inane chants of war crimes and blood on his hands. Defend him at every chance. I just wish more people would do it. (Glasgow, UK)

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Blair was the greatest Labour Prime Minister. It is a disgrace that the party has turned away from his legacy. Shame on Ed Miliband and his so-called ‘new generation’.

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The boy, man or men who killed Gaddafi

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28th October 2011

Debating with tweeps who defend Gaddafi’s killer

Forget the sodomist for now (see here if you can’t forget)

But before the tweepery – a song … “All you need is love – da da ra da ra…”

... or an underage killer with 'love' on his t-shirt?

“I shot Gaddafi” – says “the boy with the golden gun”

Hang on a minute – “I shot Gaddafi”- says this man -

Above full video at LiveLeak

Oh, hang on – hang on a bit longer! Just noticed this -

Above full video also at LiveLeak

You know something? I could write a song about this. “The Man Who Shot Colonel Gaddafi” has a certain ring to it, don’t you think?

After sorting that out (?!) – who shot the “mad dog” dictator of Libya -  I’ll get back to where I started.

TWEEPS

I had an interesting chat on Twitter on Friday afternoon about Gaddafi’s death.

Let me get a few things clear on my position right from the start.

• I am no fan of Gaddafi’s.
• I have no time for dictatorships; none whatsoever.
• I have deep sympathy for ALL who were mistreated, killed, injured or damaged under Gaddafi’s rule.
• I am a humanitarian interventionist.

I sincerely wish, though I am not all that hopeful, that the new Libya will find itself in a far better place now that Gaddafi has gone. At the same time I am mindful that not everyone felt they had suffered under his 42-year regime (see this video. Yes I know it’s propaganda, anti-west and all the rest but I notice that Libya looked not so bad not that long ago. And no-one forced passers-by to come out and cheer him.)

Sirte - BEFORE

Sirte - AFTER (spot the difference)

NOTHING QUESTIONED OUR VALUES WITH SUCH URGENT IMPACT THAN…

THE MANNER OF GADDAFI’S “GOING” AND OUR REACTION TO IT

Little about this historic week has concerned me as much as how Gaddafi met his bloody end.  In that concern I seem to be in a minority. We seem to have become immune to such horrors played out as they often are before our very eyes. We have become values-vacant comparative moralists. And worse, we have barely noticed the transformation.

Twisters of fact, truth and human rights – often anti-interventionist so-called liberals – have in reality few if any concerns regarding the universality of human rights.  You will notice this writ large even from the conversation I had at twitter some of which is pasted below.  But there is much more to confirm their confused values where that came from, believe me.

The twitter conversation started with my responding to a tweet which had mentioned Amnesty International critically. This is it -

@NurBHdm Allie Ben-Hamida

I thought societies like @AmnestyUK were supposed to be PROTECTING THE HUMAN?Calling for charges against a man who killed Gaddafi is not tht

I read and noted the response to the above from Amnesty International, which was -

@AmnestyUK Amnesty UK

@NurBHdm A society can be judged by how it treats its prisoners. Killing Gaddafi sets a dangerous precedent for the NTC

I tweeted this back -

@blairsupporter Blair Supporter

@AmnestyUK – Quite. And the international society too, for, surely, willing the end? @NurBHdm #Gaddafi #murdered

Note that my concern here in a 140-character-limited tweet was how the international community has behaved.  It is not by any means the only thing that concerns me, though the British media have been all but mute in (lack of) outcry as have most British MPs as they watched, like the rest of us, Gaddafi’s bloody ending.  We should also note that it didn’t take the “protectors of the Libyan people” – Britain, France, USA and others under the NATO/UNSC mandate long to get the hell out of there. They are off on Monday even though the Libyan NTC has asked them to stay. Job done. Or so it would seem.

I see backs protecting backs, but not necessarily Libyan backs.

This is an example of how the twitter conversation went later on in the chat stream.

@blairsupporter Blair Supporter

@politaire – & that may well be a mitigating factor in court. I take exception to the big “NO” re Gaddafi’s rights. @PrinceSarah @NurBHdm

DID THE TWEEPS SUPPORTING THE GADDAFI KILLER(S) LIE or what?

DO THEY HAVE THEIR OWN ‘TRUTH’ TO DEFEND?

Throughout this chat I was repeatedly informed by some – at least one of whom is a Libyan – that the “boy” who did this – (and they seemed to have no concerns about the man who sodomized Gaddafi) -  was a “boy” whose actions should be understood.  Not one of my chatty friends raised any doubt that it was a 17 year-old killer, therefore, presumably below the age of criminal responsibility in Libya.  There was a repeated contention that this “boy” was the victim, not the man who died, bloodied, sexually abused and shot in the brain. Perhaps the videos at the top of this page will cast light (or even questions) on their alibi.

I do not find it easy to conclude that my co-tweeps were unaware that others had also claimed to have killed Gaddafi. Their argument, if they were aware, tells of an agenda which is so utterly reprehensible as to be almost unreal.

Their argument, possibly based on a false ‘underage’ premise, went like this:

• the killer was just a boy.  If he’d been a few months older, it would have been different (?)
• he had been brutalised himself under Gaddafi’s rule
• he may have seen countless merciless murders, of family or friends
• his “revenge” was justifiable

All very well and understandable. Except that notwithstanding the possibility that the ‘boy’ was not the killer, it raises umpteen questions.

For instance:

Knowing that the “rebels” were a ragtag bunch of testosterone-laden hyper males (seen any females involved in this revolution?) why did the Libya NTC and/or the NATO-led alliance seem to will the ends without limiting the means?

As regulars here will likely know I have never been convinced about the rightness of the Libyan intervention. Forgive me my scepticism but I have yet to be persuaded that it had much to do with protecting the Libyan people.  I still see it as David Cameron wishing to show that he could do international humanitarian intervention “legally”, in comparison to Tony Blair who some still contend participated in the Iraq intervention “illegally”. To contrast and compare – note that Blair kept to the task in hand in Iraq despite its almost complete destruction of his political authority, even integrity. That was press-inspired destruction of course.

There is much more that I could write on the press’s take on Gaddafi’s death murder and our reaction to it.  I may do so. But PLEASE – we cannot “do” human rights selectively. As with defending the rights of all to freedom of speech we MUST defend the rights of all humans to humane treatment.

If  human rights are to mean anything at all they must apply to all people.  No exceptions. Otherwise Amnesty UK might as well pack up and forget it. They need have few fears. Other organisations will soon pop up to protect such as Binyam Mohammed. We already have so-called Liberty, specifically intended to speak up for many who would do us harm.

But all leaders, politicians and those who put themselves in the political firing line WILL have fears in the unlikely circumstance of Amnesty’s demise.

Note what this commenter said at Peter Popham’s disgraceful, hand-wringing and sadly typical ‘liberal’ article at The Independent -

“If only Tony Balir[sic] was with Gaddafi at the time !

The world would have been cleansed of two evils ! “

Also note that that comment had 24 ‘recommends’.

And some wonder why I do this blogging in support of Blair

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Recent comments:

I am staggered by all the hate directed towards our former Prime Minister. I believe that Tony Blair made the Iraq decision in good faith and is most certainly NOT a war criminal. If anyone should be tried at the Hague it should be those in the media for totally misrepresenting the information and facts. The media are to blame for fuelling this hatred as it is purely driven by them. (UK)

__________

The greatest and most successful leader the Labour Party has ever had with the courage to fight the Islamist terrorists who really would like to kill us all, and you never hear a good word about him. The herd of independent minds, commentators, activists etc who have never had to make a difficult decision in their lives drown out all debate with their inane chants of war crimes and blood on his hands. Defend him at every chance. I just wish more people would do it. (Glasgow, UK)

__________

Blair was the greatest Labour Prime Minister. It is a disgrace that the party has turned away from his legacy. Shame on Ed Miliband and his so-called ‘new generation’.

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Related articles

• Colonel Gaddafi’s blood is on our hands and leaves a stain on our decency (mirror.co.uk)
• Libya to try Gaddafi’s killers (vanguardngr.com)
• Libya:Gaddafi’s killing may be a war crime (laaska.wordpress.com)
• Gaddafi’s family to sue NATO (revolutionizingawareness.com)

Pat McFadden MP on Humanitarian Intervention post-Iraq (video)

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28th October 2011

This video is a few years old.  It was of a meeting just a few weeks before Tony Blair left office in 2007.  It is still worth a listen.  Perhaps, since the Libya intervention – which has come to a sudden – in my opinion too sudden – stop, it is even more valid than then.

Following the Iraq invasion far too many critics were determined to prove that intervention is seldom “humanitarian”. Rather it was seen as realpolitik or for even more questionable motives.  The world has in reality quietly moved onto the ground that Tony Blair charted in 1999 in his Chicago speech on Humanitarian Intervention, albeit with a firm eye skewed towards the UNSC, despite its many shortcomings and frequent inability and/or unwillingness to act.

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Euston Manifesto: Humanitarian Intervention post-Iraq (1/8)

Uploaded by EustonManifesto on 3 May 2007

On Monday 30th April 2007, a panel of leading Ministers, MPs, and thinkers came together in the Houses of Parliament to discuss the future of humanitarian intervention, after the conflict in Iraq.

Discussion topics included the recent crisis in both Darfur and also Somalia, the failure of the Left to deal with the arguments surrounding the promotion of democracy and international law, and the future for intervention.

The speakers were: -

Rt. Hon. Hilary Benn MP, the Secretary of State for International Development and a candidate for the Labour party deputy leadership.

Prof. Brian Brivati, Professor of Contemporary History and Human Rights at Kingston University.

Nick Cohen, journalist for the Observer and New Statesman, and author of ‘What’s Left? How Liberals lost their way’.

Brendan Cox, Director of Crisis Action and co-organiser of Day for Darfur.

Gary Kent, Director of Labour Friends of Iraq.

Pat McFadden MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Cabinet Office

The meeting was chaired by:

Karen Pollock, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust.

This is clip 1/8, all clips are available on youtube.com/eustonmanifesto

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RELATED

TIME CHART – Responsibility to Protect

2009 – September 14th – International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect

2008 – 15th July – UN, SECRETARY-GENERAL DEFENDS, CLARIFIES ‘RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT’ AT BERLIN EVENT

2005 World Summit – Responsibility to Protect in the United Nations

At the 2005 World Summit, Member States included RtoP in the Outcome Document agreeing to Paragraphs 138 and 139. These paragraphs gave final language to the scope of RtoP (i.e. it applies to the four crimes only) and to whom the responsibility actually falls (i.e. nations first, regional and international communities second).

1999 – April 22nd– Chicago Economic Club – Tony Blair’s Doctrine of Intervention

Speaking before the Chicago Economic Club, British Prime Minister Tony Blair unveiled his “Doctrine of the International Community”. Among other things, the doctrine outlines circumstances that warrant the international community to intervene in the affairs of other nations.

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Recent comments:

I am staggered by all the hate directed towards our former Prime Minister. I believe that Tony Blair made the Iraq decision in good faith and is most certainly NOT a war criminal. If anyone should be tried at the Hague it should be those in the media for totally misrepresenting the information and facts. The media are to blame for fuelling this hatred as it is purely driven by them. (UK)

__________

The greatest and most successful leader the Labour Party has ever had with the courage to fight the Islamist terrorists who really would like to kill us all, and you never hear a good word about him. The herd of independent minds, commentators, activists etc who have never had to make a difficult decision in their lives drown out all debate with their inane chants of war crimes and blood on his hands. Defend him at every chance. I just wish more people would do it. (Glasgow, UK)

__________

Blair was the greatest Labour Prime Minister. It is a disgrace that the party has turned away from his legacy. Shame on Ed Miliband and his so-called ‘new generation’.

---

Before being murdered Muammar Gaddafi was sodomized by Libya’s ‘New Democrats’

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24th October 2011

WARNING!!!  GRAPHIC IMAGES & VIDEOS

Gaddafi sodomized, then beaten & shot dead. This is a screenshot taken from the video (below the moral compass graphic)

[Source: The full bloody & bloodthirsty video of Gaddafi's last moments]

I make no apologies for capturing this screenshot or for showing readers the full video below.

As you will know I am a strong supporter of humanitarian interventionism. But only if it is controlled by those who do NOT kill or sodomize the enemy. Or at least by those who put to legal due process those who do either.

You do not have to view any of  this video but in my humble opinion we need to know exactly what we have helped unleash in Libya’s “democratic Spring”.  The murder and sodomy of anyone captured in this sort of high voltage encounter (to which OUR names are attached, even if supposedly, or conveniently(?) at arms’ length) are not acceptable to this particular ‘interventionist’.

MALFUNCTIONING

ONE MORAL COMPASS

I hold no candles for Gaddafi. None whatsoever. But …

Watch the full video below. The usual YouTube warnings apply. Presumably. Though few Libyans, or so are we are led to believe, think that anyone is too young to watch and gloat over such as this.

Full story here – Wire Update

PUTS THE PICTURE BELOW INTO SOME SORT OF PERSPECTIVE

Better handshakes, hugs, attempts at evolution rather than revolution – and even in time a trial in the International Courts (as we ALL knew was on the cards) ….

Tony Blair bringing Gaddafi in from the international cold in 2004, after Gaddafi had agreed to give up his WMD programme, following Saddam's defeat and fate (NOTE - decided in an Iraqi courtroom)

… than this?

A beaten, bloodied and bullet-ridden Gaddafi lies dead or dying in the back of a vehicle after being set upon by "new" democrats (rebels) in Libya

The video below may be largely propaganda. But if accurate it is the Libya Tony Blair may well have recognised before it became what it is today – a hotbed for hot-headed reprisal units which now has Human Rightists up in arms.

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RELATED

Another video of Gaddafi’s murder

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More of my thoughts on all of this to follow.

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Recent comments:

I am staggered by all the hate directed towards our former Prime Minister. I believe that Tony Blair made the Iraq decision in good faith and is most certainly NOT a war criminal. If anyone should be tried at the Hague it should be those in the media for totally misrepresenting the information and facts. The media are to blame for fuelling this hatred as it is purely driven by them. (UK)

__________

The greatest and most successful leader the Labour Party has ever had with the courage to fight the Islamist terrorists who really would like to kill us all, and you never hear a good word about him. The herd of independent minds, commentators, activists etc who have never had to make a difficult decision in their lives drown out all debate with their inane chants of war crimes and blood on his hands. Defend him at every chance. I just wish more people would do it. (Glasgow, UK)

__________

Blair was the greatest Labour Prime Minister. It is a disgrace that the party has turned away from his legacy. Shame on Ed Miliband and his so-called ‘new generation’.

---

“I don’t say this lightly” – I’ve cracked it on Twitter. First a death threat & now a “genuine” belief

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16th October 2011

DEATH THREAT LATER

GENUINE [DEATH] BELIEF FIRST

Confession time.  I’m not always the most numbingly flattering of people. I have a sometime impolitic tendency to say what I think.  On the other hand I DO give praise – high praise – where I believe it is deserved. Thus, dear reader, this blog. A blog in support of someone else, not espousing my own great qualities of omniscience.

Generally I don’t call people, even bankers, MPs  & the press rude names [correction - some of the press]. Either as individuals or as a group I do not wish them dead, out of some simplistic, puerile view that I KNOW that I am right and they are wrong, evil etc.

[I do confess to having recently upset someone I probably shouldn't have over something he said I probably misinterpreted. If he hadn't blocked me for being unrepentant at the time, I'd tell him I've seen the error of my ways.]

However, I wouldn’t dream of wishing death on anyone. Even those few I take an immediate dislike to. After all we’re all human. More or less.

Twitter is a funny old place though.

Maggie and Tony share a post-coital cigarette in The Hunt for Tony Blair (Picture: Channel 4/PA)

On Friday night following the latest offering from The Comic Strip – yes that’s its name - ‘The Hunt For Tony Blair’ – on Channel 4, I responded to a Twitter tweet. This chap, tweeting Stephen Mangan, the show’s Tony Blair character, copied to that other comedian Armando Iannucci, had said -

“well played sir, you’re Tony Blair is almost as good as Armando’s puppet! He really is a smiling buffoon”

I had the audacity to respond to him with this -

“He really isn’t… this is a self-serving characterisation of a world statesman.THE world statesman.”

I then received this personal response, Mangan & Iannucci not copied in  -

“I don’t say this lightly but … I genuinely believe the world would be a better place if you were no longer in it!”

Click on the picture below to see it larger -

I gently asked this individual -

‘Perhaps you can explain WHY you say this. Intrigued. “I genuinely believe the world would be a better place if you … etc” ‘

His response -

“simple really, you’re cleary[sic] a bit of an idiot and a loudmouth idiot to boot, thus you are essentially a negative influence”

ALL LOUDMOUTH IDIOTS MUST DIE

So there we have it truth-hunters.  If this guy considers you “a loudmouth idiot” – thus “essentially a negative influence” – you, hopefully(!) won’t be long for this world.

The mind boggles as to how empty the world would be if we ALL thought like this.

I only write about this to let people know that there are people out there who wish an early death for those with whom they disagree.

We should know these people exist. They are a real problem. Frequently of the peace ‘n’ love anti-war sort  – [I know, I know - priceless isn't it?] – they often exude hatred from every pore when someone disagrees with them, even when supplied with indisputable facts.  My observation that Tony Blair is “THE world statesman”, something inarguable to all but the most prejudiced, cuts no ice with His Omniscience.

We saw this blind bias on full display on The Hunt For Tony Blair. Not content that the Blair character is (in their well-rehearsed gotcha vision) shot “up the a*se” by the Gordon Brown character, we then see a kind of immediate re-incarnation of the reviled self-believing spirit turning over in the water into which he plunged, planning how to con his way past Saint Peter.

And just in case the hopeful assume he’s really dead “The Hunt” ends with “Tony Blair is still at large”.

You couldn’t make it up. Except that these people have and are applauded for it by the hate-filled ignorant. I am not taking this silly “Hunt” programme too seriously, believe me. It is part of the constant vitriol which over time seeps into the subconscious of the gullible.

For proof of that read this comment, also on Friday night -

You got that, didn’t you?  -

“Just watched a documentary about tony blair and how he killed people”.

A “DOCUMENTARY”?  This was 10:10pm Friday night just as ‘The Hunt for Tony Blair’ ended on Channel 4. It was no documentary. Yet this individual thought it was! To him it was about how Tony Blair “killed people”.

Chat down the pub tonight?

• Intellectual 1 – “Did you see what that bastard Blair did?”
• Intellectual 2 – “Yeah. First he killed John Smith the great leader of the Labour party, then he pinched his job and killed Robin Cook and all those people in Iraq.”
• Intellectual 1 – “And then the *ucker bumped off anyone else who got in his wicked way to Bush’s backside.”
• Intellectual 2 – “I reckon it’s his turn. You up for it?”

Almost forgot – the death threat

That was made a month or so ago on Twitter by someone who said this -

“If I was to ever see you, Bush or Blair I’d kill you without hesitation”

But no worries. Both Twitter and the Police told me so.  Free speech an’ all that.

Sleep well.  Live long.

__________

RELATED

1. Notts Politics – Hunting Down Tony Blair

Excerpt: “The New Labour government is the most dramatised in history and Tony Blair the most dramatised Prime Minister  … But there also lazy reasons, including pandering to easy stereotypes and popular prejudices. Many members of the public, certainly those on the left, somehow ‘know’ that Blair was obsessed by spin, was in love with the powerful and lied to us about Iraq. But how do we acquire such ‘knowledge’? “

2. THIS – is a Review? The Hunt for Tony Blair – Counterfire

Excerpt: “This is a former British Prime Minister, being portrayed as a nihilistic, self-interested mass-killer on mainstream television. Tony Blair: the man who got away with murder. And everybody knows it.”

Everybody knows YOU know nothing, Mr Hold Your Fire.

3. Note the most highly recommended comment at this Telegraph review -

“Worst of all it’s a true story, he’s got away with millions, and the innocent are left with the cosequences[sic]. “

4. And take a look at this for what the “Hunt” actors really think about Tony Blair and the Iraq war. Then tell me it’s just a satire.

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Recent comments:

I am staggered by all the hate directed towards our former Prime Minister. I believe that Tony Blair made the Iraq decision in good faith and is most certainly NOT a war criminal. If anyone should be tried at the Hague it should be those in the media for totally misrepresenting the information and facts. The media are to blame for fuelling this hatred as it is purely driven by them. (UK)

__________

The greatest and most successful leader the Labour Party has ever had with the courage to fight the Islamist terrorists who really would like to kill us all, and you never hear a good word about him. The herd of independent minds, commentators, activists etc who have never had to make a difficult decision in their lives drown out all debate with their inane chants of war crimes and blood on his hands. Defend him at every chance. I just wish more people would do it. (Glasgow, UK)

__________

Blair was the greatest Labour Prime Minister. It is a disgrace that the party has turned away from his legacy. Shame on Ed Miliband and his so-called ‘new generation’.

---

“Here’s your cards” – Quartet Envoys to Tony Blair

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11th October 2011

Knives are out as Blair battles in vain with Envoys to keep his job as Quartet Representative

Meeting, Brussels, Oct 9th. From left to right: Robert H. Serry, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary General to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority, Catherine Ashton, Helga Maria Schmid, Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS), Sergei Vershinin, Head of the Middle East and North Africa Department of the Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Tony Blair, Quartet Representative to the Middle East and David Hale, US Special Envoy for Middle East Peace

All right … I LIED!

Sometimes the only way to get the British press to sit up and take notice (you won’t find THIS reported widely) is to use their tactics. Also, it is satisfying to rub their noses in their own lies and prejudices.

From the picture above it hardly looks as though Tony Blair was expecting the heave-ho at this meeting on Sunday of the envoys. YES, by the way, Tony Blair is NOT the “envoy” but the representative of the Quartet and its envoys.

It’s be useful if we ALL understood that, for a start. If they want to sack anyone it should be the above individuals and NOT Mr Blair (see here)

French – here, English – here

Statement by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the EC participates at the Quartet Envoys meeting, Catherine Ashton, following the Middle East Quartet Envoys Meeting
in Brussels, 9 October 2011 -

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Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Commission Vice-President, hosted a meeting of the Middle East Quartet envoys today in Brussels to follow up on the statement issued by the Quartet on 23 September in New York. After the meeting she issued the following statement:
“I was very pleased to host the Quartet envoys here in Brussels today. Following the successful meeting we had with my Quartet colleagues in New York, we discussed what to do next to encourage our Israeli and Palestinian partners to resume substantive negotiations as soon as possible. With that in mind we will be contacting the Parties to invite them
to meet in the coming days. I believe we have made good progress and will keep in close contact with Quartet partners and colleagues in the region with view to meet and move things forward. “

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Tony Blair’s mandate for the Quartet

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Recent comments:

I am staggered by all the hate directed towards our former Prime Minister. I believe that Tony Blair made the Iraq decision in good faith and is most certainly NOT a war criminal. If anyone should be tried at the Hague it should be those in the media for totally misrepresenting the information and facts. The media are to blame for fuelling this hatred as it is purely driven by them. (UK)

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The greatest and most successful leader the Labour Party has ever had with the courage to fight the Islamist terrorists who really would like to kill us all, and you never hear a good word about him. The herd of independent minds, commentators, activists etc who have never had to make a difficult decision in their lives drown out all debate with their inane chants of war crimes and blood on his hands. Defend him at every chance. I just wish more people would do it. (Glasgow, UK)

__________

Blair was the greatest Labour Prime Minister. It is a disgrace that the party has turned away from his legacy. Shame on Ed Miliband and his so-called ‘new generation’.

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Iraq war – Back to the Legality Argument

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11th October 2011

Back to the Legality Argument

Cross-posted from the information-packed Think Tank of my dear friend Julie

Since both Mehdi Hasan and Owen Jones claimed this week that the Iraq war was illegal and, according to the former, “every leading international lawyer” agrees with that verdict, I would like to briefly explain – again– why it was not.

First of all, people tend to forget that all arrangements between Saddam and the international community, after 1991, were based on a ceasefire, explicitly tied to Iraq’s disarmament. In particular Resolution 678, the legal basis for military action during the first Gulf war, and Resolution 687, which determined the conditions for the ceasefire between the UN and Iraq, were extremely important. Both were never revoked and authorisation to use force remained in being throughout the years and was also the legal basis for actions in 1993 and 1998.

So why not in 2003?

Furthermore, the legal advisor to the UN, Dr. Carl August Fleischhauer, confirmed that the original authority to use force in UNSCR 678 could revive, given the Security Council’s agreement that a violation of the ceasefire was in place.

This consideration was reflected in the drafting of UNSCR 1441. It not only confirmed that Saddam remained in “material breach” and gave him “a final opportunity to comply”, but also stated in operational paragraph 4, that a failure to comply unconditionally and immediately and fully with the inspectors was itself a further material breach. As a result, it authorised “serious consequences”, as indicated in operational paragraph 13. UNSCR 1441 was thus sufficient, in combination with previous UNSCRs, especially 678, but also 687, 660 and 1137, to lawfully take part in the invasion. Unanimously accepted, it was a legal refreshment.

Grossly exaggerated is also the significance of a second resolution, since it would have provided political legitimacy only. Not to forget that action was sanctioned by the British parliament, with 412 votes in favour to 149 opposed.

Last but not least, a consideration worth making, in regard to the matter of consistency in international law, is the following:

Sir Michael Wood, one of the Foreign Office lawyers against the war, confirmed in his written statement to Chilcot, that it would have made no legal difference if the wording of UNSCR 1441 had been “all necessary measures” (as in case of the recent Libya resolution – not unanimously accepted) instead of “all necessary means” (as in case of the 2003 Iraq resolution – unanimously accepted).

Given that, was Libya illegal, too?

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Links to above mentioned UNSC resolutions:

• 660 – 2nd August 1990
• 678 – 29th November 1990
• 687 – 3rd April 1991
• 1137 – 12th November 1997
• 1441 – 8th November 2002

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Recent comments:

I am staggered by all the hate directed towards our former Prime Minister. I believe that Tony Blair made the Iraq decision in good faith and is most certainly NOT a war criminal. If anyone should be tried at the Hague it should be those in the media for totally misrepresenting the information and facts. The media are to blame for fuelling this hatred as it is purely driven by them. (UK)

__________

The greatest and most successful leader the Labour Party has ever had with the courage to fight the Islamist terrorists who really would like to kill us all, and you never hear a good word about him. The herd of independent minds, commentators, activists etc who have never had to make a difficult decision in their lives drown out all debate with their inane chants of war crimes and blood on his hands. Defend him at every chance. I just wish more people would do it. (Glasgow, UK)

__________

Blair was the greatest Labour Prime Minister. It is a disgrace that the party has turned away from his legacy. Shame on Ed Miliband and his so-called ‘new generation’.

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Telegraph should shut up about Tony Blair, says admirer Ahmed M Kamara

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10th October 2011

I saw this the other day and felt refreshed. Cleansed even.  And by a journalist. A real, live journalist – without the ugly look-at-clever-me appendage most of the British variety drag around on their shoulder hanging putridly off the cynicism chip.

The article is by Ahmed M Kamura at Newstime Africa.  It refers to this at The Telegraph by Richard Eden.  Apart from the main thrust of the article – praising the work of “this wonderful statesman” it also takes on our disgraceful, self-debased media, including broadcasting media as exemplified by Peter Oborne’s [possibly libellous] junk on Channel 4 Dispatches recently.

Our printed press, mainly The Telegraph on this occasion (but there are many others, as we all know) takes most of the criticism. Well deserved, imho.

Mr Kamura’s article is cross-posted below, with my sincere thanks to him.

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Britain’s Telegraph newspaper should shut up – Tony Blair is doing a fantastic job in Africa!

Tony Blair receives Golden Jubilee Award from Sierra Leone President Ernest Koroma

Not a week passes by that the British press doesn’t take a jab at the former Prime Minister Tony Blair. For one reason or another, the continuous hounding has become  a standard that the press here believes will guarantee them sales. The relentless attacks have become like a cult thing where it has to be done come what may. There’s never a talk about the amazing contribution that this hardworking former Prime Minister has made to Britain and the world in general. The Iraq war has become synonymous of a man whose achievements should be the envy of most current world leaders. But sadly, the British press that is supposed to elevate his profile in the media, are the ones who are taking turns in trashing the reputation of this fine international public servant. So what – he took British forces to war in Iraq on what the media here says was based on flawed intelligence – is that reason enough to continue to bash his image in the media? British newspapers need to move on. Blair’s era as PM has ended. Apparently, it seems they wish he was still Prime Minister as his presence at Number 10 helped them sell tons of papers – reflecting how popular Blair was to the British people.

The British media is notorious for hyping unnecessary issues – and as the recent phone hacking scandal has revealed – they would go through extra-ordinary means to secure damaging material on anyone they deem could make good gossip, and then embark on destroying their reputation – with no remorse. It is indeed disgraceful that respectable journalists would engage in such rancor – when they should instigate debate on how to help make the British society better for all. But i guess that doesn’t sell newspapers – not a viable commercial effort – as morals are thrown out of the window in place of dishing garbage to sometimes unsuspecting readers.

The British press is passionate about anything Blair. Recently, a TV documentary by a former broadsheet journalist actually went out of its way to investigate the business dealings of Tony Blair – just to find any flaws in the way he manages his charity and other work – when in fact no one has complained!!  No one is talking about the impact Blair’s work is having in places like Liberia, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone – where remarkable success is being made in how the people are governed. This sadly, would never make it to the front pages of British newspapers. The obsession to trash Blair’s reputation is second only to the scandal that has engulfed the corrupt British press establishment itself. I believe that the fascination with Blair stems from the fact that most in the media were hoping to see his demise after he left office – and the remarkable success he has made both with his charity and his work as Quartet Envoy has left some in shock – as most were looking forward to Blair’s downfall and use every opportunity to write vile things about this wonderful statesman – but now they have to contend with the outstanding success of a man who continues to use his world-class leadership stature in the international arena.

I have lived in Britain long enough to know how some in the press operate. Being a Journalist myself – i have seen how some credible newspapers have fallen far short of their moral obligations. I have also seen how the tenets of the profession is totally disregarded by tabloid newspaper and their journalists –  just to ensure a controversial headline. On May 13th 2007 when Tony Blair was leaving office, the reputable New York Times reported “ there is no denying the political brilliance that won Blair rare longevity as prime minister. He refashioned the Labour Party after years in the political wilderness, molding a British version of Bill Clinton’s third way – a cleverly packaged balancing of Margaret Thatcher’s free-market policies with a willingness to spend revenues from a booming economy on hospitals, schools and public safety. Blair deserves the praise he has received for achieving peace in Northern Ireland, for the creation of separate legislatures in Scotland and Wales, and for overcoming his Tory predecessors’ knee-jerk hostility to the European Union. Blair sagely dispensed with British insularity when he backed the EU expansion that brought in Central European countries of the vanished Soviet bloc. And he rightly preached a policy of building a strong Europe that would not weaken the trans-Atlantic alliance”.  This is indeed an excellent assessment of some of Blair’s achievements – the type that will never make it to the OP/ED’s of British newspapers!!

On the 9th October edition of the British Telegraph, it is reported: “Tony Blair’s charity set up to alleviate poverty in Africa spends more than £1.6 million on its staff” – I don’t personally see anything wrong with this. If Blair was paying his staff peanuts or below the British minimum wage. I wonder what the headlines would be! These nasty behavior from newspapers that are supposed to be respectable, exposes a daft agenda that comes into play when there is insufficient material to make it to the next edition. The deliberate cocked-up attempt to create a story out of nothing relevant could easily be identified in the flow of the story itself. The report went on:  “It paid its 22 employees, seven secondees and sub-contractors a total of more than £1.6 million. This translates as more than £57,000 a year for each of Blair’s staff. The charity works in some of the world’s poorest countries, including Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Rwanda. The organisation, which is one of three charities the former prime minister set up since leaving office, enjoyed an income of £3.2 million in 2010, an increase of £1.25 million since 2009. Its expenditure was almost £3 million”. The article is clearly meant to cause damage to Blair’s credibility. There must be better things to write about – especially considering the current phone hacking scandal that has engulfed the British media.

Tony Blair should be left alone to help  African governments deliver good governance to their people. The continued harassment Blair has endured in the hands of the press in Britain has now become tasteless in the minds of newspaper readers who have become accustomed to see a story or two about him on the front or inner pages of newspapers nearly every week. The Telegraph’s latest attempt to smear him has only ended up chipping into the credibility of this media house I once had respect and admiration for. No matter what is written, Tony Blair has left a legacy, one that would be impossible to dismantle – no matter how mighty the pen is!!

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I commented at Mr Kamara’s article here and tweeted on it here -

blairsupporterBlair Supporter

Ahmed M Kamara, I salute you, Sir. We need your sort of honest journalism here in UK. newstimeafrica.com/archives/22802  – Tony Blair “wonderful statesman”

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MORE EXAMPLES OF THE TELEGRAPH’S CAMPAIGN OF ENVIOUS VITRIOL TOWARDS TONY BLAIR

• On the desert trail of Tony Blair’s millions
• Tony Blair’s Byzantine World of Advisers & Lucrative Deals
• Tony Blair linked to Libyan deal with Russian oligarch

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Also see – Tony Blair’s Africa Governance Initiative – AGI

______

Back to top

Click to Buy Tony Blair’s ‘A Journey’

_______________

Sign the Ban Blair-Baiting petition here

Recent comments:

I am staggered by all the hate directed towards our former Prime Minister. I believe that Tony Blair made the Iraq decision in good faith and is most certainly NOT a war criminal. If anyone should be tried at the Hague it should be those in the media for totally misrepresenting the information and facts. The media are to blame for fuelling this hatred as it is purely driven by them. (UK)

__________

The greatest and most successful leader the Labour Party has ever had with the courage to fight the Islamist terrorists who really would like to kill us all, and you never hear a good word about him. The herd of independent minds, commentators, activists etc who have never had to make a difficult decision in their lives drown out all debate with their inane chants of war crimes and blood on his hands. Defend him at every chance. I just wish more people would do it. (Glasgow, UK)

__________

Blair was the greatest Labour Prime Minister. It is a disgrace that the party has turned away from his legacy. Shame on Ed Miliband and his so-called ‘new generation’.

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