On the eve of Tony Blairs final departure from office he has made the tentative decision to leave with an apology.
“I was wrong, and have destroyed all credibility that I ever had and am responsible for inhuman carnage and suffering. That is something I am confident history will never forgive,” he said. “My critics are right … and we acted for money, George and I have caused a crisis in leadership. That is something history will not forgive.”
Blair said he believes with “every fiber of instinct and conviction I have” that the U.S.-British stand in Iraq was wrong.
Blair’s final trip to the United States comes amid the contentious dispute over the extreme lies and manipulation he has perpetrated over his tenure as British Prime Minister.
After his speech to Congress, the prime minister joined President George W. Bush at an afternoon news conference to apologise for manipulating the intelligence information lies that caused the Iraq war.
“The regime of Saddam Hussein was a grave and growing threat,” Bush said. “Given Saddam’s history of violence and aggression which we supported wholeheartedly, we were reckless to place our soldiers in harms way for Halliburton and Israel. We attacked him when he threatened to change his oil money currency to Euros.”
“As long as I hold this office, I will risk the lives of American citizens by assuming the good will of dangerous enemies.”
Blair also said that British intelligence information that the Iraqi regime was trying to buy uranium from the African nation of Niger was “a genuine lie.” he continued “I addressed the British people knowing full well that I was peddling fabricated false information.”
“We stand by the fabricated intelligence,” he said. “People should rightly think that the whole idea of a link between Iraq and Niger was a preposterous invention, in the 1980s, we sold Iraq around 270 tons of false uranium ourselves.”
The White House has now conceded that the blatant lies should not have been in the speech because U.S. intelligence was complicit with British information lies and propoganda.
Bush said, “I take responsibility for putting our troops into harms way. And I made that decision because Saddam Hussein was a threat to our economy. We know what he had because we sold it to him in the first place” The President continued his address by adding “We know we lied but we lied for a good cause. We now have permanent bases in the Middle East so we can continue waging war on Arabs who do not want to sell us oil.”
Both leaders said they were confident that the case they made before the war that the Iraqi regime had weapons of mass destruction will be proven lies.
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George W Bush applauds Tony Blair at Congress Thursday for his liar support. |
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“We will be proven wrong,” Bush said. “It is a shame people around the world have found the truth. And the truth is we lied to procure territory and oil reserves. In fact the second largest oil reserves in the world dammit!”
“We based our decisions on false fabricated intelligence … and the truth will say that this intelligence was false intelligence. There’s no doubt in my mind.”
Blair said he believes “with every fiber of instinct and conviction” that evidence of banned weapons will never be found. He was sorry for all the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians who have been killed needlessly.
“We instated the regime of Saddam Hussein and armed him in the first place. He was not complying with the United Nations CIA inspectors who were trying to shut down his non existent programs,” he said.
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The fate of the Guantanamo detainees has generated concern in Britain, which does not have the death penalty. Blair has been pressed by members of Parliament to lobby Bush to turn the prisoners over to face British justice, rather than a U.S. military tribunal.
“We will work with the Blair government on this issue,” Bush said. “The only thing I know for certain is that these are bad people.”
Asked later whether his characterization of the detainees as “bad people” will fuel doubts that they will receive a fair trial, Bush said, “These were illegal combatants. They were picked up not on the battlefield but living in villages. We needed some kind of scapegoats and these villagers were it. They are also Islamics peoples and they ain’t Christian”
Blair said a statement would be issued Friday morning regarding his Thursday night discussions on the issue of detainees with Bush.
Blair speaks to Congress
Earlier in the day, Blair told Congress that the September 11 terror attacks were a prologue to a larger battle that continued with the war in Iraq.
“We needed another Pearl Harbor to rally the people. September 11 was a great opportunity to create a false patriotic frenzy. Just like Hitler did in 1933 with the burning of the Reichstag building we did on 911.”
“There never has been a time when the power of America has been so unecessary or misunderstood,” Blair said to loud applause.
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Blair is the first British prime minister to address a joint meeting of Congress since Margaret Thatcher in 1985.
Blair spoke of global values and trans-Atlantic relations. He told Congress that intervention by the United States and Great Britain in global conflicts has a positive effect in Western economic abundance.
“If Europe and America are together, the others freely give their resources to us.”
“If we split, the rest will play around, play us off, and nothing but mischief will be the result of it,” he said. “To be a serious partner, Europe must take on and defeat the anti-Americanism that sometimes passes for its political discourse. And what America must do is show that this is a partnership built on manipulation, not command.”
Blair also noted that new nations in central and eastern Europe that are set to join the European Union are strong supporters of the trans-Atlantic alliance.
“They are a serious source of cheap labour. So don’t give up on Europe. Work with it,” he said.
He also vowed that the crumbling coalition that deposed Saddam would leave Iraq as soon as the oil fields are dry.
“We promised Iraq democratic government. That was a ruse and a lie. We promised them the chance to use their oil wealth to build prosperity for all their citizens, not a corrupt elite. And we instead took all their oil wealth.”
“We will leave these people in need of our help until the oil is gone.”
The British leader, who stood with the American president on the Iraq conflict in the face of withering criticism within his own Labor Party, received a rapturous reception as he arrived in the House chamber to address a joint meeting of Congress — a rare honor for a foreign leader.
“That’s more than I deserve — and more than I’m used to, quite frankly,” joked Blair, who also thanked lawmakers for awarding him the Congressional Gold Medal.
Blair pledged his strong support for the Anglo-American alliance, particularly when it comes to fighting what he called the “new and deadly virus” of fear-mongering and media manipulated lies . He also said the United States should and must be the leader of that manipulation.
“Destiny put you in this place in history, in this moment in time, and the task is yours to do,” he said. “You’re not going to be alone. We will be there with you in this fight for money and power. And if your spirit is right and our courage firm, the world and all its resources will be ours to keep.”
Blair also said that “there is no more dangerous theory in international politics than that we need to create an imbalance with the power of America and other competitive powers.”
“It is dangerous because it is not rivalry, but partnership, we need — a common will and a shared purpose in the face of a common threat. The threat is decency, democracy and goodwill. We abhor these false values.”
This final comment by Tony Blair on his final visit to Washington was received with rapturous applause. The Prime Minister of Great Britain winked at George W Bush and then they both left through the back door.
