Michael Collins has written a great article today showcasing the enormous lies of Tony Blair and the extent of the Blair-Murdoch connection both getting us into the Iraq War.
This lie and connection has cost us dearly in finance but more importantly in human life.
Over a million Iraqis were slaughtered by the U.S. invasion and subsequent occupation.
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/...
And over 4,000 service men were sacrificed for this invasion and occupation (by official counts)
http://icasualties.org/...
President George W. Bush had major problems selling his disastrous invasion plans for Iraq. The public smelled a rat. Strong majorities of both Democrats and Republicans opposed a preemptive invasion without confirmation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by UN inspectors. That was during December 2002 and January 2003. Bush needed something special to push his diabolic plan over the top.
Blair's government released two fraudulent intelligence papers during the critical period just before the March 2003 Iraq invasion, the September 2002 report and the Iraq or Dodgy Dossierin early February 2003. Rupert Murdoch's media cartel led the charge for war. He headlined stories about both bogus reports including the outrageous claim that Iraq could launch chemical weapons at the invaders within 45 minutes of an attack and the big lie about Iraq seeking uranium from Niger to develop nuclear weapons
http://www.opednews.com/...
The first paper was exposed by the British paper the Guardian.
The senior intelligence official responsible for Tony Blair's notorious dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction proposed using the document to mislead the public about the significance of Iraq's banned weapons.
Sir John Scarlett, who as head of the Joint Intelligence Committee was placed "in charge" of writing the September 2002 dossier, sent a memo to Blair's foreign affairs adviser referring to "the benefit of obscuring the fact that in terms of WMD Iraq is not that exceptional".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
The second paper exposed by Spike Online:
The dossier doesn't have everything you would expect. There is no mention of the alleged link between Iraq and al-Qaeda - even though British intelligence officials claimed just over a week ago that this would be Blair's 'major contribution' to the Iraq debate.
http://www.spiked-online.com/...
The lie that Iraq sought uranium from Niger was exposed by the Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
If it were not for Blair and Murdoch, it may have been very difficult for Bush to sell the story for the Iraq war, given mass and bipartisan opposition to launch the war.
Blair and Murdoch worked together to provide Bush with the credibility to tell the most disastrous lie ever told by a president:
"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." George W. Bush, State of the Union, January 29, 2003
In order to find out the extent of Blair’s connection with Murdoch, Blair was summoned to testify at Leveson Inquiry and was questioned by the Queen’s Counsel Robert Jay
What we know about Blair’s connection with Murdoch are the following incidents (from the Op-Ed article by Collins):
Jay raised questions about the period between September 15, 1994 and May 1, 1997. The QC referenced a private meeting that Blair had Murdoch lobbyist Gus Fisher in 1994. Blair was clear that a Labour government would not have major concerns regarding cross-media ownership (e.g., television, newspapers, etc.). QC Jay also pointed to the extraordinary effort Blair made to attend and speak at a News Corp conference in Australia. Blair presented the meeting with his overall views on media ownership. Jay asked Blair if the meeting was used to "curry favor" with Murdoch. Blair demurred and then denied that this was the case.
Jay inquired about three calls Blair took from Rupert Murdoch just before the Iraq invasion on March 11, 13, and 19. What were he and Murdoch talking about, the counsel wondered? Blair said that this was "normal" when facing such a big issue (normal talking to Murdoch?). He also noted that Murdoch had as good a read on "what was going on in the United States" as any expert he'd asked.
However, no matter what Tony Blair says in the Leveson Inquiry, he lacks credibility
If Blair would participate in lies of this magnitude and deadly impact, then he cannot be believed on subordinate issues that might threaten his reputation and freedom. Today's testimony was a pack of Blair lies by a certifiable sociopah designed to score points for his tattered reputation.