Suez, Iraq - Eden, Blair - Failed Foreign Policy

Guardian: Reports " Overall, Chilcot’s report amounts to arguably the most scathing official verdict on any modern British prime minister. It implicitly lumps Blair in the same category as Anthony Eden, who invaded Egypt. Chilcot’s 2.6m-word, 12-volume report was released on Wednesday morning, together with a 145-page executive summary. "

Lets Get Real:

Let us recall that Tony Blair won a general election in 2005, that was two years after the War started,  he was only pushed out by Gordon Brown in 2007, at least he had a year's grace period, Lady Thatcher had just five days.   THIS blog will never understand how Labour can turn its back on Blair, he won them three election after being out of power for nearly 18 years.  The Iraq War was a mistake based on faulty information, that can happen to any leader, as suggested in my last post, Iraq will not be the last War that he UK gets in too, there will be others, memories fade, bitter memories even fade, the UK acted in Libya under PM Cameron, at least Cameron did not send in ground troops,  then there is always Syria, this blog has argued that it will take ground troops to get rid of Daesh in Syria.  This blog saw this morning that President Obama is keeping eight thousand four troops in Afghanistan, and wants NATO to add more, crisis points change, Blair did the best he could, you can ask nothing more of a leader. 

Blair Sorry for Iraq, kind of, - Iraq Inquiry 2

Daily Mail: Reports " Grovelling Blair's voice cracks as he finally says sorry for Iraq War after devastating Chilcot report - but he STILL defiantly insists 'there were no lies' and 'I would take the same decision again'  "

Lets Get Real:

In the day this blog did a Masters course on intelligence and national security, it can be argued that ALL the intelligence agencies before the Iraq War thought the Iraqi Regime had WMD.  The problem with intelligence is that it can be subjective, LBJ used the suspected attack on a US Ship as a reason to attack North Vietnam, that it might not have happened only become clear later, the President never said sorry for the bombing and its bogus reason for the bombing.   Thus when you are doing PR politics with the used of intelligence it is a given that leader will stress its main strong points, Blair wanted to be with Bush 43 when it came to Iraq, the Government was warned by those against the War that it would be a mistake, the Blair Government went to war with Iraq, based on political self interest and the believe that the WMD was there, Tony Blair's only fault was to allow his need to be with the US in the War even if the information was not 100%, sometimes you roll the dice and you win, sometimes you do not, and in this case Blair was not lucky. 

The Iraq Inquiry - The Verdict on Iraq

BBC News: Reports " Tony Blair overstated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, sent ill-prepared troops into battle and had "wholly inadequate" plans for the aftermath, the UK's Iraq War inquiry has said. "

Lets Get Real:

The verdict on the Iraq War is pretty severe on Tony Blair, the press are going with a July 28th memo from Blair to Bush, the memo stated the following, " "I will be with you, whatever...", thus those that think Blair should face a War crimes trial will be pushing that, while his defenders, will states that the Inquiry does not say that Blair lied to Parliament.    The UK acted on flawed information from intelligence, the UK wanted to part of the process, thus they had to have troops on the ground, the US did go down the UN route as suggested by Blair, in the end that was blocked by France stating it would veto any resolution.    Thus the French undermined the UN not the the UK.    This blog supported the Iraq War and still does, an evil regime was overthrown, and the people of Iraq were given a chance at freedom, democracy does not always comes with a nice ribbon and covering, sometimes it has to be fought for and there are those that do not make it, the UK Armed Forces did the best they could, the lack of equipment is down to the MOD.

Iraq Inquiry - The Result

The Iraq Inquiry: Read the Report as it is published ON LINE.

Lets Get Real:

Will the Inquiry be fair and be critical of its subject, or like HRC web server, will it be a whitewash, the time has come to tell. 

The May Bandwagon Carries on - After Cameron

Telegraph - Live Reporting: Reports in its 8.36pm post the the following, " Dr Fox has also come out for Mrs May, stressing "experience matters":  In this leadership election we have nine weeks before the candidate who is successful becomes the prime minister. It is essential that they have an understanding of the top levels of government, international affairs and how the process in Whitehall operates. "

Lets Get Real:

IF the Conservative Party was smart and did not have big egos the race could be over TONIGHT, it looks like May has most of the Conservative MPs, the only way for Gove to win would be a vote of the members, that does not look like a good prospect, the political knifing of the former Mayor of London has shown Gove in a BAD LIGHT, the political knifer never gets the Crown.    Thus one can expect another round, with Gove being forced out and with May and Leadsom going before Conservative Members, at least you know it will be a woman PM, either way, the Labour Party is going to look old and sexist. 

Crabb OUT of Conservative Race - After Cameron

Guardian - Live Reporting: Reports in its 8.15pm post the following, " Crabb said that he spoke earlier to Theresa May and was now giving her his “wholehearted” support. "

Lets Get Real:

It looks like bar the shouting that it will be Theresa May as the next UK PM.   IF she holds the lead in the second round and even gain votes it can be argued that the Country is in such a crisis point we do not have the time for a two month delay, that the other contenders should step down and allow May to become PM.   Of course the Conservative members might prefer Leadsom, a new face, a new broom so to speak.   INTERESTING week ahead for the Conservative Party and the UK.   A note for the future, Crabb is the face of the future of the Conservative Party, if not quite yet!

The Conservative Party - 1st Round of Voting

BBC News - Live Reporting: Reports in its 6.51pm post the following, " A reminder again of the result. Theresa May received 165 votes - more than 50% of those cast. Andrea Leadsom came second with 66, Michael Gove third with 48 and Stephen Crabb fourth with 34.

Liam Fox is eliminated from the race, having come last with 16 votes. "

Lets Get Real:

It looks like its a race for May to lose, the former Chancellor, Ken Clark stated she was a bloody difficult woman, well that is good news, you want a tough cookie in No 10.  The race is not over, there is an election on Thursday and then next Tuesday in till we get down to two candidates, this blog thinks May should win, if she does lets hope she is like Margaret Thatcher and stays as long.