Tony Blair’s Iraq war crimes

This 5 August 2015 video from Britain is called Jeremy Corbyn on Tony Blair and ‘war crimes’ – Newsnight.

By Steve Sweeney in Britain:

Tony Blair: Guilty In The Eyes Of The Public

Tuesday 1ST August 2017

TEFLON Tony Blair escaped justice yet again yesterday after High Court judges blocked a private prosecution against the former PM for war crimes over the invasion of Iraq.

Campaigners accused the Establishment of a “concerted and coordinated effort” to exonerate Mr Blair for his role in the Iraq war in which one million people were killed.

Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German branded Mr Blair “the most protected war criminal in the world.”

However, she said: “In the court of public opinion he has long been found guilty.”

Iraqi General Abdul Wahed Shannan al-Rabbat had sought a private prosecution against Mr Blair, along with then foreign secretary Jack Straw and attorney general Lord Goldsmith.

He accused Mr Blair of committing a “crime of aggression” by invading Iraq in 2003 and his lawyers asked permission from the High Court to seek judicial review to get the Supreme Court to overturn a 2006 House of Lords ruling that there is no such crime under the law of England and Wales.

Gen al-Rabbat brought the case after Westminster magistrates refused to issue summonses in November last year claiming the trio had immunity from prosecution for decisions taken while in government.

However the appeal was dismissed yesterday by the Lord Chief Justice as having “no prospect” of succeeding.

But Michael Mansfield QC said that the findings of the Chilcot Report justified the prosecution of Mr Blair.

He said that the inquiry showed Saddam Hussein did not pose an urgent threat to British interests and the intelligence regarding weapons of mass destruction had been presented with “unwarranted certainty.”

The QC said that as the international crime of a war of aggression had been accepted at the time of the Nuremberg trials of nazi war crimes, it was the duty of British courts to follow the example and prosecute those responsible for the Iraq war.

The Nuremberg judges had said that war “is essentially an evil thing. Its consequences are not confined to the belligerent states alone, but affect the whole world.

“To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament general secretary Kate Hudson branded the decision “hugely disappointing” and that “justice had been left undone.”

She said: “Last year’s Chilcot report showed that Blair had no respect for Cabinet procedure, no respect for Parliament and no respect for international law.

“Iraq was devastated by the war Blair led Britain into, millions of innocent Iraqis were killed, British soldiers were killed and terrorism has spread across the Middle East.

“Chilcot revealed the evidence that must now be used to bring Blair to justice. Only when justice is served can we prevent disasters like the Iraq war from happening again.”

US Navy SEAL Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward Gallagher, 39, is facing a general court martial and stands accused of multiple war crimes following his latest deployment to Iraq. The most serious charge is premeditated murder, which carries with it an automatic life sentence in the military justice system. Gallagher, a medic, sniper and SEAL since 2004, is accused of stabbing an Iraqi child in the throat and body while he was being treated for wounds he suffered from a US airstrike. The child’s age is unknown, but it is estimated he was 15 years old. Along with premeditated murder, Gallagher, who has pled not guilty to all charges, is also accused of attempted murder, obstruction of justice, aggravated assault and bringing “discredit upon the armed forces”: here.