Prosecute Blair: It’s time to indict

THE PINOCHET LEGACY

With Senator Pinochet’s belated release my mind turns to the Pinochet Legacy, or the idea that political figures can be arrested in one country for political crimes on the request of a third country. This is seen as a political victory for the left as left wing brutes such as Robert Mugabe, Fidel Castro and anyone connected with the Chinese regime are for the moment safe. As I have said before this was not a cry for justice but a political grudge by a set of ex-Marxists who smarted at being on the losing and repellent side of the Cold War. But pendula swing, and the New World Order, or whatever, will not always be a left wing one. Sooner or later avowedly right wing groups and personalities will take control of the levers of international power and will have their own grudges borne out. Near the top of that grudge list must be the most irritating and sanctimonious man on Earth, Saint Tony of Kosovo. Of course any politically motivated prosecution would be wrong, as it was with Senator Pinochet, but as consistency and honour are out of fashion (and one can not be out of fashion in these inclusive days) I will try to prepare a charge sheet for the War Criminal Blair.

KIDNAPPING

Mr. Blair is complicit in the kidnapping and house arrest (my God, this sounds like Burma or Pakistan) of Senator Pinochet. Welcomed into this country on the invitation of the Government, he was then arrested in hospital while under anaesthetic. He was held on a faulty warrant, and instead of being released when the warrant was found to be void, his legal team where not informed and he was kept without a warrant. Detaining people without warrant is the definition of kidnapping, whether it is done by the Government or by individuals. While it is undisputed that this was done for political purposes (to take one example among many the Prime Minister referred to Senator Pinochet as "unspeakable" in his address to the ruling Party conference) the detention without charge went on for more than sixteen months. Habeas Corpus was another casualty at the altar of modernisation.

GENOCIDE

The deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children (that’s 4,000 a month) due to bombing and sanctions on the Government can not be described as anything other than genocide. The children are dying on a large scale, for something (the political composition of their government) which is beyond their control due to the group to which they were born into. If this is not genocide then we need to throw out the dictionary. As Britain is enthusiastic in its participation in this genocide, this is another reason to take Mr. Blair to the dock, preferably without having to starve his children first.

BREACH OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

I am not a person who believes that International Law, with its undemocratic antecedents, should be taken too seriously. However, Mr. Blair plainly is. It may pay to look at his actual record in this area. I am not even going to look at the way in which civilian Serbs have been plainly targeted by the NATO bombers, and by the NATO occupation force in Kosovo. A sovereign nation (Serbia) was attacked without reference to the UN security council, with a mandate only connected to its internal policies. Both of these constitute a breach of the United Nations Charter. The use of NATO in an operation where none of its members were attacked was also a breach of the NATO charter. I may believe that we should withdraw from both of these organisations, but I am not talking about my standards but those of the model internationalist, St. Tony the Hypocrite.

PERVERTING THE COURSE OF JUSTICE

When thinking of the damage that Mr. Blair did to the peace process in Chile through his arrest of Senator Pinochet, one has to look at Mr. Blair’s own peace process in Northern Ireland. Convicted terrorists have been freed in the hope that they will lead their private armies away from war (they haven’t – but this is not the point). Avowed terrorists have been given privileged positions in both the assembly and the government of the province. The atrocity at Omagh has not been punished 18 months on, even though both the British government and IRA/Sinn Fein know the culprits. Justice has been denied to the victims. Now I may oppose the "Peace Process" for precisely this reason, but I do recognize that governments have the right to decide that situations may be so extreme that justice has to be denied. I would be indignant if another country decided to interfere (for example America) in the "Peace Process" which I believe to be so flawed, simply because it should be up to the British government to, well, govern. This means it must make its own mistakes. As Mr. Blair’s actions over Senator Pinochet show, this exercise of national sovereignty is beyond "third world" Chile, as it seems that only white men can have a peace process. I disagree with this and so wish to indict Mr. Blair for perverting the course of justice.

SUBVERTING THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS

Lady Antonia’s government likes holding referenda. It is a shame that they mind losing those referenda so much. In Scotland two votes were held, as it was seen that it was more likely to be won if the two issues of an assembly and extra taxes were separated. On the issue of a London Assembly the two issues of a mayor (which was popular) and an assembly (which was not) were bundled together. The vote on a Welsh Assembly (which was unpopular) was held a week after the far more popular Scottish Parliament. There were no other reasons for these decisions except to get the people to vote for the right result. These were not so much referenda as popular acclamations, managed in a way that would make any other pseudo-democratic despotism proud.

MASS MURDER

The Britsh National Health Service is supposed to be the envy of the world. The idea, that no one should die from a lack of money is noble, although the economics of the enterprise have been shown to be less than workable. But there is a darker side to the NHS, the systematic murder of "useless mouths." The recent trial of Dr. Harold Shipman has been little reported in the American press, but it is crucial in understanding the moral vacuum at the heart of Labour’s Health policy. Dr. Shipman killed at least 140 of his patients through the use of morphine. Because he did this on a freelance rather than an approved basis he was put in prison. The sad fact is that involuntary euthanasia is practiced on genocidal proportions in the NHS, on a scale that has increased to a nationwide basis after Labour’s accession to power. In the last two years most people have lost an elderly relative or friend through being taken to hospital for "tests," suddenly being diagnosed with an unsuspected but lethal disease and being "mercifully" killed. This pattern has become more and more common, and it is the same group that have suffered, the disabled, the mentally ill and the elderly. It is one thing to argue about voluntary euthanasia, but no one asked my grandfather whether he wanted to die of morphine overdose. The obscenity is that the man who overaw this exercise in "reducing waiting lists," Frank Dobson, has not been tried for mass murder but has been put forward as Labour’s candidate as mayor of London. The obscenity of St. Tony of the Morphine Injection is truly awesome.

DO AS YOU SAY

It is fairly clear that Tony Blair is the most evil British Prime Minister in the twentieth century. When he next talks of morality in politics, remember his own loose relationship with morality. If he had any morality to speak of he would have given himself up to trial. Anyone in America up for a citizen’s arrest when he next steps on to American territory?

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