The press grilling Blair over civilian deaths in Iraq

[Greeby]

On all UK news channels now.

This is turning into a British version of the Scotty spit roast.

[acmavm]

1. But with an honest press.

.

[Greeby]

2. Hmm

Well, the question about civilian deaths that got Blair riled was asked by Adam Boulton of Sky News.

Sky News = a sane version of Fox News

[Greeby]

3. Woah

Jon Snow of Channel 4 hitting out at Saudi being the main source of terrorist funding.

Can you imagine someone doing this in the US? They'd be suicided

[mrfrapp]

4. Idiot

Blair is an absolute idiot. This is worse than a Bush performance. I've been watching for five minutes and he's not said a single coherent sentence. Just rambling nonsense.

on edit: He since said one or two coherent sentences but quite frankly he's living in a fantasy land. I actaully feel nauseous after listening to some of the things he said and the manner in which he said them.

[lockdown]

5. Shoot-to-kill policy never crossed his desk

Not me guv, that's a police decision. Then said if he HAD been told, he would've supported the police adopting the policy. Yeah we believe you.

[lockdown]

6. Critics are terrorist sympathisers

According to Blair, linking the bombings to Iraq is making excuses for the bombers and justifying their actions. He later denied saying that, but it's exactly what he said. He also denied occupying forces in Iraq have killed more civilians than the bombers did, unbelievably.

[julianer]

7. And it's what all the blairites

in the press have been saying with some nasty vieled threats directed at the anti-war left.

However 85% now think that the bombings are linked to the Iraq war:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/050724/344/fo2j5.html

Apparently only 12% of people aren't apologists for terror in Blair's twisted logic.

Blair is still in trouble and hasn't been able to work the bombings to his advantage though he has pulled out all the stops to do so.

[lockdown]

8. It infuriates me

As you say it's a smear that was already being pushed, heard Hilary Benn (Labour MP) saying it a couple of weeks back and I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Blair is in a bit of trouble isn't he. It wasn't on par with a Scotty-fest sadly but there were some pretty severe questions all the same. He looked really uncomfortable.

[julianer]

9. I wonder what Hilary's dad

had to say about that?

Isn't Tony president of the Stop the War Coalition?

It hasn't worked anyway. Did you see the Rentoul's dreadful article in the IoS? He was banging on about the anti-war left 'giving succour' to the terrorists and there being a moral difference between our bombs and theirs. He claims that muslims aren't victims so much as they (all of them!) suffer from a sense of victimhood (they are just imagining the occupations, I suppose).

And on the same page a piece by Imran Khan putting the anti-war arguments. Khan is a right-winger, I think, but there was nothing he said that I could disagree with, and it didn't depend on specious, emotional disjunctions or dodgy moral arguments.

[lockdown]

10. Aaargh!

Have to admit, I didn't know he was Tony Benn's son! That's depressing, poor Tony.

I didn't see that article but I recognise the sentiments, the arguments of such apologists get more ridiculous by the week.

[mr blur]

11. Well, he hit on something here:

"11 September for me was a wake up call. Do you know what I think the problem is? That a lot of the world woke up for a short time and then turned over and went back to sleep again."

And a lot of them woke up again just long enough to vote for the Chimp again. And, to be fair, for Bliar himself.