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Protester Gets To "War Criminal" Tony Blair During Leveson Enquiry

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Jennifer1984 On July 20, 2022
Returner and proud





Penzance, United Kingdom
#1New Post! May 29, 2012 @ 07:15:45
https://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/may/28/tony-blair-protester-leveson-inquiry?newsfeed=true



A protester, later named as David Lawley-Wakelin, 49, got into the Leveson Enquiry yesterday during the evidence being given by former Prime Minister Tony Blair and shouted:

"Excuse me. This man should be arrested for war crimes. JP Morgan paid him off for the Iraq war; three months after we invaded Iraq. He held up the Iraq bank for £20m. He was then paid $6m very year, and still is, from JP Morgan, six months after he left office. The man is a war criminal."

Mr Lawley-Wakelyn was arrested for Breach of the Peace and taken to a police station where he was released two hours later without charge.

Later, as Blair was being driven away from the enquiry, an egg was thrown at his car by another protester.

Protests dog Blair wherever he goes in Britain. He had to cancel a book signing tour in the UK three years ago when protesters surrounded the first store he was due to appear in. The mood of the demonstrators was ugly and there were genuine fears for his safety.

During the 2010 general election he was snubbed by the Labour Party when he offered his support for the election campaign. He lives almost continuously outside of the UK now, and whenever he comes to Britain he is hounded by protesters.

He is widely believed to have lied to Parliament about the need for Britain to enter into the Iraq War and there is also widespread belief that he lied at subsequent enquiries into the war. Nothing could be proven though and he walked free.

Anti-war groups in Britain want Tony Blair to be tried for war crimes at the Hague, and others believe he should also be prosecuted for lying to Parliament.

Blair continues to protest his innocence. Very few people believe him.


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Jennifer1984 On July 20, 2022
Returner and proud





Penzance, United Kingdom
#2New Post! May 29, 2012 @ 07:20:53
For more background information about the protester, see also the link below,

https://www.ideasfestival.co.uk/?p=559

The film, titled The Alternative Iraq Enquiry was produced by David Lawley-Wakelin
ninozara On April 30, 2020




Cheshire, United Kingdom
#3New Post! May 29, 2012 @ 12:49:21
Two things struck me about it when I saw it...

First, how wonderfully polite the protester was, and the security.

Secondly, how slowly does Leveson speak ? It's slightly threatening and unnerving really.
sister_of_mercy On March 11, 2015




London, United Kingdom
#4New Post! May 29, 2012 @ 13:03:28
I do feel sorry for Tony sometimes. I am very much anti-war and I didn't care for him much as PM but he should be able to leave the past behind him now that he's not prime minister anymore. The poor guy made some bad choices but that doesn't mean he should be hounded wherever he goes because of them (though I doubt he's that bothered if he's really as rich as the papers claim him to be).

Perhaps if he'd ever apologised or owned up to his mistakes then things would be different. Who knows. Makes me wonder why anyone would ever want to be prime minister.
Jennifer1984 On July 20, 2022
Returner and proud





Penzance, United Kingdom
#5New Post! May 29, 2012 @ 13:23:52
@sister_of_mercy Said

I do feel sorry for Tony sometimes. I am very much anti-war and I didn't care for him much as PM but he should be able to leave the past behind him now that he's not prime minister anymore. The poor guy made some bad choices but that doesn't mean he should be hounded wherever he goes because of them (though I doubt he's that bothered if he's really as rich as the papers claim him to be).

Perhaps if he'd ever apologised or owned up to his mistakes then things would be different. Who knows. Makes me wonder why anyone would ever want to be prime minister.




On a purely individual basis, the hounding of Blair is distasteful. I certainly wouldn't want it to happen to me.

If he had simply left office, admitted he was wrong and the Chilcott Enquiry into the Iraq war hadn't been as conspicuously easy on him as it was..... like, for goodness sake, the questioning he faced was pathetic. They let him off the hook so EASILY...!!

If everything had been above board after Iraq and he had faced at least some penalty for his actions... if he had only told the truth... if he had taken responsibility and at the very least said he was sorry for what he did, then yes, I agree, by now it would probably have all died down.

But Chilcott (and Butler and Hutton before them) let Blair squirm off the hook. Blair lied. Again....and again.... He showed not one shred of remorse for all those deaths. He accepted not one iota of responsibility. Instead, he swanned off to America and made millions on the lecture tour of the States. His books sold by the lorry load. He preened himself on American TV and took the plaudits that the American people bestowed on him for being their "ally".

Blair profited immensely from that war, and he did so conspicuously and shamelessly. He then had the bare faced cheek to insinuate himself into the position of Special UN Peace Envoy to the Middle East. Good grief... talk about the fox guarding the hen house..!!

The man has no shame whatsoever.


What people want is justice. They want an apology. They want Blair to 'fess up. They want him to tell the truth.

All those widows and parents of servicemen who died out there. They want closure. They want to know why their sons went to war on a criminal enterprise and died for nothing.

All the countless bereaved families of Iraqis who died or were maimed by British troops. They deserve an apology and restoration.

Instead, what do they get..? Tony Blair's grinning mug as good as saying to them "Another million in my retirement fund. Thanks a lot, suckers".

Do you really think he should be left alone in peace to enjoy his ill gotten gains..?





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MAW On October 31, 2012

Deleted



Stockport, United Kingdom
#6New Post! May 29, 2012 @ 15:46:40
@sister_of_mercy Said

I do feel sorry for Tony sometimes. I am very much anti-war and I didn't care for him much as PM but he should be able to leave the past behind him now that he's not prime minister anymore. The poor guy made some bad choices but that doesn't mean he should be hounded wherever he goes because of them (though I doubt he's that bothered if he's really as rich as the papers claim him to be).

Perhaps if he'd ever apologised or owned up to his mistakes then things would be different. Who knows. Makes me wonder why anyone would ever want to be prime minister.



The $6 million he gets or got ever year from J P Morgan?
Jennifer1984 On July 20, 2022
Returner and proud





Penzance, United Kingdom
#7New Post! May 30, 2012 @ 06:00:08
@MAW Said

The $6 million he gets or got ever year from J P Morgan?



That's the tip of the iceberg, MAW.

I wonder though, if things have gone beyond financial wealth for him now. He's got more money than he can spend in his lifetime and the future of his family is financially secure, but in Britain the man lives in a gilded cage.

He can't show his face anywhere in his own country without having to be surrounded by security heavies and even then somebody will throw an egg or a bag of something red (symbolic of the blood he's caused to be spilled) at him.

He sought wealth and possibly even believed that his actions would give him a place in British history like that of Margaret Thatcher or Winston Churchill.... as a war leader who won a great and popular victory. Certainly, he took Britain into five wars in six years, something no other Prime Minister in history has ever done.

But if he thought that would make him popular, events have proved otherwise.

Now he is a pariah. An outast. He can sit at home and count his millions, but he can't walk down to his local corner shop and buy a newspaper without being spat on.

Perhaps he already is in prison after all.

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fitzyp On December 23, 2014




Auckland, New Zealand
#8New Post! Jun 04, 2012 @ 08:12:12
I personally enjoy it. I only wish that the scope of such measures was increased to the US. There are plenty of former US officials who should be hounded as such: Bush, Cheney, Yoo. For his contribution Obama should also face such treatment. Criminal Justice systems have long had a bad record of investigating, prosecuting and punishing the most powerful in society. In such circumstances it is up to the common person to attempt to at least attempt to restore the smallest semblance of justice.
Jennifer1984 On July 20, 2022
Returner and proud





Penzance, United Kingdom
#9New Post! Jun 04, 2012 @ 09:33:18
@fitzyp Said

I personally enjoy it. I only wish that the scope of such measures was increased to the US. There are plenty of former US officials who should be hounded as such: Bush, Cheney, Yoo. For his contribution Obama should also face such treatment. Criminal Justice systems have long had a bad record of investigating, prosecuting and punishing the most powerful in society. In such circumstances it is up to the common person to attempt to at least attempt to restore the smallest semblance of justice.



I agree, Fitz.

All too often, high ranking officials can manipulate the system to ensure they are untouchable.

Blair was questioned at three different enquiries into the Iraq war, but not one of those was a trial. At no time was he ever under oath, and none of those enquiries had any judicial powers. No matter what evidence anybody gave, or whatever else came to light, Blair could not be prosecuted. He was always guaranteed to walk free.

And yet, later, when put under further questioning, men like Blair will refer back to Hutton, or Chilcott or Butler and talk about them as if they WERE formal judicial proceedings, and that they were found "Not Guilty" of committing any offences.

It's a crass distortion of the truth, but they get away with it.

Blair should be taken to The Hague as a defendant in a war crimes trial and required to give evidence on oath, which can be properly questioned by an experienced prosecutor. The whole sorry can of worms should be opened up for all the world to see.

If found guilty, he should be sent to prison like a common criminal. That would be the best example to set to those who, in the future, who may be tempted to play power politics with the lives of innocent people.

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