Was the Iraq War futile and unnecessary and will Tony Blair face consequences for inciting it ?
Tony Blair must be prosecuted over the “unnecessary” and “unlawful” Iraq War, a court has heard.
General Abdul Wahed Shannan Al Rabbat alleges Mr Blair, then UK prime minister, committed “the crime of aggression” by invading Iraq in 2003.
The general wants to bring a private prosecution against Mr Blair and two other key ministers at the time – foreign secretary Jack Straw and the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith.
Michael Mansfield QC, arguing for a war crimes trial in the UK, told the High Court Mr Rabbat had sought the prosecution in the wake of the Chilcot inquiry report, which was released last year.
“Saddam Hussein did not pose an urgent threat to the UK, intelligence reporting about [Iraqi] weapons of mass destruction was presented with unwarranted certainty, that the war was unnecessary and that the UK undermined the authority of the UN security council,” is how he summarised the findings, according to The Guardian.
“Nothing could be more emphatic than these findings. It was an unlawful war.”
Westminster Magistrates Court refused to issue summonses in November last year on the grounds that the former ministers had immunity from legal action, and in any event the current Attorney General, Jeremy Wright QC, would have to give consent.
Come get Bushies too.
And hung!
“Clever tyrants are never punished.” Voltaire
“Mr. Blair, you have been found guilty as charged. Your war crimes amount to hundreds of thousands of cases of murder, so you should be getting hundreds of thousands of life sentences to be served in sequence. HOWEVER, I find that no reasonable prosecutor would file charges. We therefore change the verdict to not guilty, and rule that you shall receive £1 million for every hour wasted in court. Also, please accept this Nobel Peace Prize as our token of appreciation.”
— The UK version of Comey