The Fanonite

Neocon shitrag Observer reports Poodle’s last visit to the archipelago of fortified safe zones in Iraq and just in case some at home were worried, it reminds us the Prime Minister was ‘upbeat’ and ‘relaxed’. I guess it means ’progress is being made in Iraq.’

Like so many of the things he has been upto lately, we are told his farewell to the troops was ‘emotional’. Touching.

Only a few hours after “a mortar bomb had fallen in the protected green zone near the British embassy and in a weekend when eight American soldiers were killed and 43 Iraqi civilians were found murdered”, Blair told gathered soldiers, “what you have done here is absolutely remarkable”.

So any pearls of wisdom from a man Britain elected thrice as its supreme leader?  ‘When you go out and talk to the majority of people here they tell you they want to live in peace.’ 

The stupidity of this man, who is referred to endearingly as the ‘twerp’ by Robert Fisk, is clearly beyond ridicule, but how do the ‘finest of Britain’ react to such inanity? “The 200-odd servicemen and women gave him rousing applause.”

Maybe John Kerry was right, when said, “You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

 Finally for a reality check, Patrick Cockburn writes:

Iraq is surely where Mr Blair’s style of politics - his tactic of never admitting error and blandly denying there is a crisis - ran into bloody, catastrophic reality.

His tune never changed: since no mistakes had been made, there was no need to devise new policies. Largely, he was simply endorsing US policies, determined by US domestic politics. Since 2003, Iraq has suffered a series of spurious turning points that have often deepened the crisis. But at no point has there been any sense from Mr Blair’s speeches and statements that he knew much about what was happening in Iraq or the Middle East.