Tony Blair's finest hour

[drdon326]

For the state-funded British Broadcasting Corporation, what we know as acts of terrorism are actually bombings, blasts, explosions – anything but the terrible "t" word. Except, that is, for a first few hours, when those acts take place in London and reporters have a brief window in which to use English accurately, before the Orwellian language police move in to restore draconian rule by euphemism.

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But, commendably, for the British government, as Prime Minister Tony Blair made plain this week, terrorism is terrorism is terrorism. It has no justifiable pretexts. It has no legitimacy. And it no less deplorable and unacceptable in one part of the world than in another.

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His full quotation ran as follows: "And one other thing I want to say whilst I am on the subject, if I might: neither have they any justification for killing people in Israel, either. Let us just get that out of the way as well."

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The supplicant tone of some of Blair's remarks was depressing. How sad a reflection on the political environment that it required real bravery for Blair to puncture attempts at drawing moral equivalency between bombers and those who would stop them. How dreadful that it required real bravery for him to place Israel on the same list as other nations victimized by the terrorists. How shameful that some prominent public figures (step forward Benedictus XVI) evidently lack the guts, and that others (Mr. Livingstone, you rightly presume) lack the intellectual honesty to do so.



http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122518931203&apage=1

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intelligent article

[Englander]

1. ~~

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,7371,1536930,00.html

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Englander]

4. Woo-hoo!! Let's have a cartoon duel!!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,7371,1147435,00.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,7371,1533084,00.html

[drdon326]

5. Nah....

so what did you think of the article ?

[number6]

6. LOL

:rofl:

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[number6]

7. Terrorism is a tactic, everybody uses it.

Tony Blair, Bushes poodle blows smoke out his ass.

you can have a war against people who use Terrorism as a
tactic, like Hamas or Al Queda, but were not doin that
were in Quagmire Iraq stealing da oil.

[Scurrilous]

8. ‘Israeli terror is worse’

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3119885,00.html

Former Education Minister Shulamit Aloni blasts ‘megalomaniac’ Prime Minister Sharon in interview with Arab-Israeli newspaper, says he should face justice. Aloni also charges Israel a racist state that commits war crimes

<snip>

"Israel is a racist state that commits war crimes and resorts to terrorism worse than that employed by the Palestinians, former Education Minister Shulamit Aloni charged in an unusually scathing interview with Nazareth-based Arab-Israeli newspaper Kul al-Arab.

Other highlights from the interview include “(Prime Minister) Sharon should face justice,” “Israel is following Mussolini’s way,” and “some soldiers behave like animals.”

When asked how she characterizes the prime minister, Aloni responded: “Sharon is a big, arrogant nationalist. He suffers from megalomania and doesn’t mind sacrificing the lives of
others, as happened in the invasion of Lebanon.”

“Sharon and the Israeli leadership always try to make Israelis believe the lie that the Palestinians want to throw us to the sea,” the former minister charged. “In fact, we are the ones who commit war crimes against humanity, and I hope Sharon will face justice.”

[IndianaGreen]

9. Blair's finest hour? More like the chickens coming home to roost

Or as Steve Bell's cartoon illustrated in this link posted earlier by Englander:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,7371,1536930,00.html

Blair's joining at the hip with Bush, and his own criminality in Iraq, has opened a pandora's box of violence.

Blair defends Iraq war, vows new attacks on civil liberties and social conditions
By Julie Hyland
29 July 2005

Prime Minister Tony Blair’s July 26 press conference was a sharp warning that his government will intensify both its pro-war alliance with Washington abroad and the imposition of sweeping attacks on civil liberties at home.

Blair’s last monthly press conference before his summer break was held amidst unprecedented events. Just days before, armed police had summarily executed 27-year old Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes in a London subway carriage, firing seven bullets into his head and one into his body at point-blank range as he was pinned to the floor by other officers.

Government ministers, police and the media have sought to portray de Menezes’ killing as the unintended consequence of anti-terrorist measures made necessary by the July 7 bombings in the capital that killed 56 people.

In fact, the young electrician was the innocent victim of a shoot-to-kill policy secretly adopted by police two years ago, without any discussion in parliament, much less public debate.

The Guardian quoted a police source stating that under this new policy, “there is no need for officers to verbally warn a suspect before opening fire.” This admission, together with Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair’s earlier warning that more innocent people could be gunned down by police, confirms that the state has been given a licence to kill with impunity under the guise of the “war on terror.”

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/jul2005/blai-j29.shtml