Wednesday, January 28, 2004
I LOVE THE SMELL OF TOTAL VINDICATION IN THE MORNING
The story hasn't gotten much play here in the USA, and it's too complicated to explain, but Tony Blair was just completely exonerated from all responsibility in the David Kelly matter.
This matters because Blair has always been a nagging incongruity in the standard antiwar script, which goes something like this: The Iraq war is obviously a war for oil and profits, conducted by Bush and Cheney for the benefit of the corporations who own them. The problem for the antiwar script is: Where does Tony Blair fit in? Why would he essentially destroy his career just to help the gang at Halliburton line their pockets? What possible personal gain could accrue to Blair from prosecuting a grossly unpopular war?
The more you think about Blair and how irreplaceable he was in making the Iraq war happen, the more the standard antiwar script collapses.
And without the script, the antiwar person is forced to conclude that--however wrong the war may have been--Bush and Blair entered into it in good faith. The worst thing that can then be said about the war is that it was a mistake. And that's not good enough for the people who want to believe in malign Republican conspiracies.
So that is why the Blair vindication is so huge, and so glorious. Blair had to be ruined to give the antiwar script life. And he wasn't.
The story hasn't gotten much play here in the USA, and it's too complicated to explain, but Tony Blair was just completely exonerated from all responsibility in the David Kelly matter.
This matters because Blair has always been a nagging incongruity in the standard antiwar script, which goes something like this: The Iraq war is obviously a war for oil and profits, conducted by Bush and Cheney for the benefit of the corporations who own them. The problem for the antiwar script is: Where does Tony Blair fit in? Why would he essentially destroy his career just to help the gang at Halliburton line their pockets? What possible personal gain could accrue to Blair from prosecuting a grossly unpopular war?
The more you think about Blair and how irreplaceable he was in making the Iraq war happen, the more the standard antiwar script collapses.
And without the script, the antiwar person is forced to conclude that--however wrong the war may have been--Bush and Blair entered into it in good faith. The worst thing that can then be said about the war is that it was a mistake. And that's not good enough for the people who want to believe in malign Republican conspiracies.
So that is why the Blair vindication is so huge, and so glorious. Blair had to be ruined to give the antiwar script life. And he wasn't.
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