Advertisement
Christmas Special - Get your first 12 issues for just £12
SUBSCRIBE
Opinion

Twenty years on from Iraq, a reader asks: what did Blair truly believe?

Weapons of mass destruction were never found in Iraq, yet they were used to justify a pointless war, says reader David Lindsay

Black Hawk helicopter in Iraq

Image: Angie Johnston from Pixabay

As we mark the 20th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, it has become fashionable to say that Tony Blair “never lied”, but how can anyone possibly suggest that with a straight face? Unlike 90 per cent of the population, did Blair truly believe that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, capable of deployment within 45 minutes against the British bases on Cyprus, bases that for some reason Saddam Hussein might have been minded to have attacked? On what basis could Blair possibly have believed that? As Aneurin Bevan said of Anthony Eden in similar circumstances, Blair was either too wicked to be prime minister, or he was too stupid to be prime minister.

The wicked and the stupid are back with a vengeance, not that they ever went away. They are being reverently asked for their reflections two decades on. None of them has ever suffered professionally. Quite the reverse, in fact. Ninety per cent of the British population saw through the Iraq War from the start, but none of the 60 million of us has ever been deemed capable of assuming any of those wholly discredited individuals’ positions in public life. 

David Lindsay

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this topic? We want to hear from you. And we want to share your views with more people. Get in touch and tell us more.

Your support changes lives. Find out how you can help us help more people by signing up for a subscription

Advertisement

Change a vendor's life this Christmas

This Christmas, 3.8 million people across the UK will be facing extreme poverty. Thousands of those struggling will turn to selling the Big Issue as a vital source of income - they need your support to earn and lift themselves out of poverty.

Recommended for you

View all
Boris Johnson and David Cameron are not sticking knives into human beings. So what stops them?
John Bird

Boris Johnson and David Cameron are not sticking knives into human beings. So what stops them?

Vulnerable asylum seekers need lawyers. Here's how Labour can fix the legal aid scandal
Home secretary Yvette Cooper
Sairah Javed

Vulnerable asylum seekers need lawyers. Here's how Labour can fix the legal aid scandal

AI is a tool like the paintbrush – it can be used for good things and terrible things
Phillip Toledano

AI is a tool like the paintbrush – it can be used for good things and terrible things

'In the moment it was great to be British': The uncynical positivity of a British citizenship ceremony
Steven Mackenzie

'In the moment it was great to be British': The uncynical positivity of a British citizenship ceremony

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know