Clinton and Blair avoid arrest

SUBHEAD: The level of gross incompetence and lack of accountabilit is leading to populist revolts around the world.

By Michael Krieger on 6 July 2016 for Liberty Blitzkrieg -
(https://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2016/07/06/like-hillary-clinton-britains-tony-blair-will-avoid-accountability-for-his-crimes/#more-35670)


Image above: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sits with Prime Minister Tony Blair while hosting Ban Ki Moon at U.S. State Department. From (http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Hillary+Clinton/Tony+Blair/Clinton+Hosts+Ban+Ki+Moon+EU+High+Rep+Ashton/u05eG7v1L3C).

It’s been a good couple of days for the global two-tiered justice system and its political beneficiaries. Just yesterday, the world gasped in horror as Hillary Clinton was given her much anticipated “get out of jail free card,” further clarifying the similarities between herself and her lawless banker patrons. As I wrote in yesterday’s piece, “What Difference Does It Make” – Thoughts on the Non-Indictment of Hillary Clinton:

Unless you’re some kind of cultist and view Hillary Clinton as your leader and savior, you cannot read the above and not be extremely concerned that this person could in very short order be elected President. Indeed, let’s focus in on that last paragraph. Comey admits that other people under similar circumstances might face consequences, but that Hillary Clinton will not. So once again, due to her position of influence and power, she will face zero accountability for her actions. What difference does it make.

It’s not just Hillary, of course. Politicians and corporate executives the world over escape justice on a daily basis. Although this has always been true to varying degrees throughout history, it’s the current in your face boldness of it all as the general public suffers from a rigged and broken economy, which is leading to populists movements all across the Western world. The latest example of elite immunity comes courtesy of America’s “special ally” across the pond: Great Britain.

Earlier today, the findings from a seven year UK inquiry into the run up to the Iraq War and its disastrous aftermath were revealed. Reuters reports:

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s justification, planning and handling of the Iraq War involved a catalogue of failures, a seven-year inquiry concluded on Wednesday in a scathing verdict on Britain’s role in the conflict.


Eight months before the 2003 invasion, Blair told U.S. President George W. Bush “I will be with you, whatever”, eventually sending 45,000 British troops into battle when peace options had not been exhausted, the long-awaited British public inquiry said.


More than 13 years since the invasion, Iraq remains in chaos, with large areas under the control of Islamic State militants who have claimed responsibility for attacks on Western cities.


Many Britons want Blair to face criminal action over his decision to take military action that led to the deaths of 179 British soldiers and more than 150,000 Iraqi civilians over the following six years.

Despite all of that, absolutely nothing will happen to Tony Blair. Just like nothing happened to Hillary Clinton, or mega bank CEOs. Are you picking up on a pattern yet?

Critics also say it fuelled a deep distrust in politicians and the ruling establishment. The report was issued 13 days after Britons delivered a stunning blow to their political leaders by voting to leave the European Union.

Well yeah, why do you think the British people voted for Brexit despite all the experts lecturing them about how stupid that decision would be.

The inquiry, which was given unprecedented access to confidential government documents and took longer to complete than British military involvement in the conflict itself, said Blair had relied on flawed intelligence and determined the way the war was legally authorised was unsatisfactory.


The threat posed by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s supposed weapons of mass destruction – the original justification for war – had been over-hyped and the planning for the aftermath of war had been inadequate, it found.


“It is an account of an intervention which went badly wrong, with consequences to this day,” said the inquiry chairman, former civil servant John Chilcot. 

In light of all this, you’d think Tony Blair might express some regret about his decision to go to war. You’d be wrong.

In a lengthy and passionate defence lasting almost two hours, Blair explained his decision to back Bush and go to war alongside the United States in March 2003, at a time when the inquiry said Saddam posed no imminent threat.


“I did not mislead this country. There were no lies, there was no deceit, there was no deception,” the former prime minister told reporters, looking gaunt and strained but growing animated as he responded to questions.


“But there was a decision, and it was a controversial decision … to remove Saddam and to be with America. I believe I made the right decision and the world is better and safer as a result of it.”

Sounds a lot like all the economists and central bankers who continually assure us that things would’ve been “so much worse” if we didn’t bail out the bankers with zero strings attached. He then proceeds to rewrite history and pretend his war didn’t have the obvious effects it did.

Blair said he would take the same decisions again, and that he did not see the action as the cause of terrorism today, blaming outside forces for continuing sectarian violence in Iraq and the legacy of the Arab Spring for the emergence of Islamic State militants.

Yet you wonder why the world’s in the wretched state it’s in. With “leaders” like these, what do you expect? They’re all corrupt, incompetent, militaristic and completely incapable of learning from their mistakes.
Oh and while Tony Blair is busy reminding everybody about how much better the world is from his plush surroundings, here’s what some Iraqis had to say about, you know, their actual lives:

“I wish Saddam would return; he executed many of my family but he is still better than these politicians and clerics who got Iraq to the way it is,” said Kadhim Hassan al-Jabouri, an Iraqi who was filmed attacking Saddam’s statue with a sledgehammer after the invasion.

Now this from the AP:

Iraqis say they’re not satisfied that the head of Britain’s Iraq War inquiry has not recommended prosecuting former British Prime Minister Tony Blair for war crimes.
Many Iraqis are still mourning the loss of more than 175 people killed in a massive weekend bombing in Baghdad claimed by the Islamic State group.


Ali al-Saraji, a Baghdad resident, says Blair, “destroyed our country,” and should be prosecuted as a war criminal for his involvement in bringing about the Iraq war.

The instability that the 2003 U.S.-led invasion unleashed in Iraq persists to this day and has left more than 100,000 Iraqis dead, tens of thousands wounded and millions displaced.


Al-Saraji says “since 2003 until now, our country has been a scene of destruction, killing, massacres, explosions and sectarianism.”


The rise of al-Qaeda in Iraq following the 2003 invasion later morphed into the militants who call themselves the Islamic State group.


Juma al-Quraishi, an Iraqi journalist, says “everyone who took part in the war against Iraq should be condemned, either Britain or others.”

But never mind, Tony Blair tell us he made the right choice.

Meanwhile, it’s this level of gross incompetence and lack of accountability that is leading to populist revolts around the world. Earlier today, I was stunned to read that Italy’s 5-Star Movement is now the most popular party in the country.

From Reuters:

Fresh from its successes in last month’s local elections, the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) is now Italy’s most popular party and would easily win power if a national election were held now, opinion polls show.


Three polls this week said M5S had overtaken Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s Democratic Party in voter preferences, reaching around 30 percent of the vote and continuing a long trend of rising support while Renzi’s popularity ebbs. Italy’s next national election is scheduled for 2018.


But all recent polls show that under the new electoral system M5S would easily win in the second round ballot if the election were held now.


The strength of M5S in second-round ballots was reflected in mayoral elections last month, when it won in 19 of the 20 run-offs it contested, including the capital Rome.


The 5-Star Movement, founded by comedian Beppe Grillo in 2009, bases its appeal on the fight against Italy’s rampant corruption and pledges to break down the privileges of its political and business elite.

I first brought this movement to the attention of readers back in 2013, in one of the most popular posts of the year. Here it is in case you missed it: Incredible Video: Beppe Grillo Dissects the Financial System…in 1998


Image above: Heads of State Clair Blinton and Toby Killary as mashed together by Juan Wilson. Click to embiggen.

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