Blair: I bear no responsibility

(Updates I and II below)

There's a coffee shop I go to every morning where I always ending up discussing politics with a young Asian man. The other day we were arguing over whether or not Blair managed to sleep at night. I said that I was under the impression that a sociopath like Blair would sleep like a log, whilst the shopkeeper argued that he thought Blair now looked like a troubled man whose conscience was bothering him.

I was listening to Blair being interviewed on Radio Four this morning and wished I knew the shopkeeper's phone number.

Tony Blair has refused to apologise for the security situation in Iraq, saying he bears no responsibility for it.

I think we have the answer to our question. He'll sleep like a log as he accepts "no responsibility" for the security situation in Iraq. That's breathtaking stuff.

The prime minister told BBC Radio 4 extremists trying to thwart Iraq's democracy were to blame for attacks.

"I don't think we should be apologising at all for what we are doing in Iraq. We're trying to support the democrats against the terrorists," he added.

When he was pressed on the fact that these same extremists didn't exist in Iraq until he and Bush had invaded, the point seemed lost on him. When pushed on the fact that he had failed in the first task of an occupying force, which was to restore order, he acted as if the chaos of the first few months of the occupation was totally normal and unavoidable. It reminded me of the casual way Rumsfeld declared, "Freedoms messy" as Iraqis looted shops and business' as American and British soldiers looked on, refusing to engage.

He has now adopted the Rumsfeld line that "There was no army to disband, it disbanded itself".

It was a performance that was truly beyond shame. He accepts responsibility for nothing. Indeed, he went as far as to say that we should be proud of what we have done.

"Now, you can argue about - and I've already been back over it myself - about whether you could have disbanded the army differently and so forth, but it isn't the principal reason you've got a problem in Iraq.

"The principal reason you've got a problem is, as I say, because there are elements deliberately giving you that problem."

This blameless line has become a Blair theme over the past few days. Yesterday, in the House of Commons he used it when he stated, "We will beat them when we realise that it's not our fault that they are doing this."

A simply extraordinary sentence. As if the British Army are holding back through guilt. Perhaps our soldiers are angst ridden over the effects of British imperlialism.

And anyway, personally, I've never thought it was our fault, I've always thought it was his fault.

And then the penny dropped. That's what he's saying. "It's not my fault. Don't blame me."

He's worked out the line that he's going to use throughout this and he's not going to let logic interfere. "It's the bad people that did this."

With that attitude, he'll sleep like a baby.

Click title for full article.

To listen to the interview click here. Though this link will only work for a few days as it's a link to the Today programme website rather than to the Blair interview.

UPDATE:

If you do go to the Radio 4 site be sure to check out the emails from listeners. This one made me howl.

Mr Blair's mistakes and terrible miscalculations over Iraq give him no authority to speak on the subject. It would be more informative to interview a teenage general studies student. Living in his world of make believe and denial is particularly destructive for our own democracy.

Alastair Partington

UPDATE II

I've just listened again to this - yes, I'm a glutton for punishment I know - and I can't believe I missed this first time around. Although in my defence it is quite a breathtaking interview:

Blair: I don't believe that people in Iraq should be faced with the choice between a bloody dictator, namely Saddam, or various militias running their lives.

But, by failing to restore order - the very thing that he refuses to apologise for - wasn't that a choice that he essentially made on their behalf? Because Bush and Blair failed to restore order, the militias were able to take hold. Nor did this happen overnight. It was only months of sustained chaos that allowed them to flourish.

So he's saying that Iraqis shouldn't have to make a false choice between two evils, when it was his inaction that allowed the second of those two evils to take hold. If he had any shame he would at least accept responsiblity for that.

Tags: Iraq war, Blair, Radio Four, Humphreys