Blair attacks his critics' tendency to 'conspiracy theories'
source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article7019088.ece
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- Mcellie
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In an interview with Mike Huckabee for Fox news Tony Blair talked about a obsession with scandal and conspiracy in answering a question into "why so many of these [Iraq] inquiries?"
"I think it's partly because we have this curious habit – I don't think it's confined to Britain actually – where people find it hard to come to the point where they say: 'We disagree – you're a reasonable person, I'm a reasonable person – but we disagree.' There's always got to be a scandal as to why you hold your view. There's got to be some conspiracy behind it – some great deceit that's gone on, and people just find it hard to understand that it's possible for people to have different points of view and hold them reasonably for genuine reasons. So I think there's continual desire to sort of uncover some great conspiracy when actually there's a decision at the heart of it – but there it is."
However, this statement makes me think of the witnesses in the current inquiry, who have talked about their early disagreement on the Iraq war decision, and how they felt ignored.
"The Justice Minister told the panel that he had repeatedly warned Mr Blair about the legality of the conflict and agonised over whether to support it.
Other witnesses have since suggested that he had disregarded unanimous legal opinion within the Foreign Office and told Cabinet and the House of Commons that there was a clear legal case for war. "
"I think it's partly because we have this curious habit – I don't think it's confined to Britain actually – where people find it hard to come to the point where they say: 'We disagree – you're a reasonable person, I'm a reasonable person – but we disagree.' There's always got to be a scandal as to why you hold your view. There's got to be some conspiracy behind it – some great deceit that's gone on, and people just find it hard to understand that it's possible for people to have different points of view and hold them reasonably for genuine reasons. So I think there's continual desire to sort of uncover some great conspiracy when actually there's a decision at the heart of it – but there it is."
However, this statement makes me think of the witnesses in the current inquiry, who have talked about their early disagreement on the Iraq war decision, and how they felt ignored.
"The Justice Minister told the panel that he had repeatedly warned Mr Blair about the legality of the conflict and agonised over whether to support it.
Other witnesses have since suggested that he had disregarded unanimous legal opinion within the Foreign Office and told Cabinet and the House of Commons that there was a clear legal case for war. "
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