Tony Blair’s Latest Lies About The War In Iraq

A Voices in the Wilderness UK briefing

As the British Government have discarded one set of lies about Iraq, used to justify the invasion, they have replaced them with a new set - this time aimed at justifying the ongoing military occupation.

Thus, at press conference with the US-appointed Iraqi Prime Minister (and former CIA asset) Ayad Allawi on 19 Sept, Tony Blair declared that we are now fighting a “new Iraqi conflict” which he identified as “the crucible in which the future of … global terrorism will be determined.” According to Mr Blair, this “new conflict” pits an Iraqi government that is “trying to create … [a] democratic [Iraq] … [that] respects human rights” against “former regime elements and … outside terrorists.” Given the source it should come as no surprise to learn that every one of these statements is false.

Big lie #1: ‘outside terrorists’
Blair’s emphasis on the role of “outside terrorists” – and his conflation of the ongoing war in Iraq with “global terrorism” – ‘runs counter to the US military’s own assessment that the Iraqi insurgency remains primarily a home-grown problem’ (LA Times, 28 September). Indeed, ‘US military officials said Iraqi officials [who have spoken of foreign insurgents “flooding” into the country] tended to exaggerate the number of foreign fighters in Iraq to obscure the fact that large numbers of their foreign countrymen have taken up arms against US troops and the American-backed interim Iraqi government.’ “They say these guys are flowing across [the border] and fomenting all this violence. We don’t think so,” a senior military official in Baghdad explained. “What’s the main threat? It’s internal.”