Tony Blair said the Iraq war was a "blood price" worth paying. But it's not a price he has paid - it's been paid in the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians.
Morning Star
23 July 2012
Over 100 Iraqis reported killed by bomb attacks on 23 July 2012.
THE ONGOING slaughter in Iraq is the bloody legacy of the Blair and Bush-led illegal 2003 invasion, peace campaigners said today after the latest string of bomb attacks killed scores of people in the country.
At least 100 people were reported to have been killed following bomb and gun attacks in Baghdad and in areas north of the Iraqi capital this morning.
In one of the worst incidents at least 24 people were killed in the Sunni neighbourhood of Taji, around 12 miles north of Baghdad. Bombs also exploded in Shia districts of the capital and a car bomb detonated at a government building in Sadr city killed at least 12. Around 13 towns and cities were targeted in what appeared to have been a wave of co-ordinated attacks.
The security forces suffered large losses with 15 soldiers apparently being killed in an attack on a base in Dhuluiya in Salaheddin province. Police checkpoints were hit by car bombs and military bases came under mortar attack.
Anti-war campaigners said that Mr Blair bore a great deal of responsibility for the ongoing bloodshed in Iraq.
The former PM has recently been brought back into the Labour fold as an adviser to party leader Ed Miliband - an appointment that CND general secretary Kate Hudson said was "absolutely unacceptable."
She told the Star: "Just a few months away from the 10th anniversary of the illegal and immoral attack on Iraq, we would do well to reflect on the legacy of that decision to go to war.
"Tony Blair spoke at that time of Britain being prepared to pay the blood price. But it has not been a price he has paid - it has been paid in the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians and the lives of British soldiers sent to fight in a war based on a web of lies. This legacy of death in Iraq continues as recent tragic events show. So it is absolutely unacceptable that Tony Blair should re-emerge in any role in the political life of this country."
Ms Hudson said it remained the view of CND that Mr Blair and other government ministers responsible for the war should be investigated for war crimes. "The passage of time can never erase the need for trial and justice," she said.
Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German said:
"This is the legacy of the disastrous invasion and occupation. The US and Britain encouraged sectarian divisions, backing one group against the other and now we are seeing the consequences with the terrible number of deaths which you have hardly heard anything about in the media. Britain and the US have to take a good deal of responsibility for this. For Tony Blair to be talking about his role as Middle East peace envoy or a political comeback is obscene. These and the countless other deaths are or should be on his conscience."
Anti-war campaigners have called a protest for 24 July between 4pm and 5.30pm outside the Central Hall Westminster where Tony Blair is scheduled to take part in a debate on faith in public life alongside the Archbishop of Canterbury. Details...
