Tony Blair names Henry Kissinger as his role model. Honestly, not kidding. It is of course literally true, as they were both responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands through neo-colonial war. What a pity he forgot to mention it when he stood for leadership of the Labour Party. On the other hand, it is the sort of thing Jim Murphy of the Henry Jackson Society is quite open about, and it doesn’t seem to hurt his career prospects either.
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Politicians making difficult choices presumably means spying on all and sundry, allowing bank heists, and deciding who to bomb next.
You would, I suspect be interested in this: http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2014/12/08/the-torture-defenders-fan-out/
Andrew Sullivan is one of the few journalists working in America who seems to care that their government operated a torture programme.
Difficult choices (1). Justify extra-legal measures to shield IRA before parliamentary committee, or advise that nice President-Unelect Sisi on hedge funds?
…in correspondence seen by The Times newspaper, the former Prime Minister claims that his ‘commitments in the Middle East and elsewhere’ mean that it will be ‘challenging’ for him to give face-to-face evidence to MPs about the letters. (above)
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/tony-blairs-egypt-links-in-spotlight-after-scathing-report-on-the-deaths-of-over-1000-supporters-of-ousted-president-mohamed-morsi-30503996.html
A spokeswoman for Mr Blair did not respond to a request for comment.
No-brainer.
There’s considerable media interest in the possible release of the SCI report summary today. The BBC’s domestic radio news led on it this morning.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-30383924
Raising security? Again? But we told you there’d be blowback…
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/senates-cia-torture-report/story?id=27457542
The news item covering the torture report is already plummeting down the BBC’s news agenda, with of course not so much as a whiff that the issue had anything to do with New Labour whatsoever.
The word ‘torture’ does not even appear in the opening few paragraphs of the piece. Instead, we get “harsh interrogation”!
This is how the corporate media massage certain inconvenient facts for their masters.
Hush, Mike. We wouldn’t want to prejudice the mild slap on the wrist that Chilcot, or his heirs, will be administering to Blair, or his descendants, some time after 2050. Do we?
I guess the redactions in the summary will erase anything about Blair and Straw, simply because we have been gentlemanly about not embarrassing Bush in the legendary Chilcot report.
But if it is clear that Bush was aware, and up to his armpits in the filth, and if Obama is getting just a little sick of Republican intransigence, it could be ‘publish and be damned’ – in which case Blair would be as well going to live in Tel Aviv.
Yes, BZ, the liberal media are desperate to polish that sheriff’s star and pin it on Ed Miliband (or whoever the Red Austerity Manager might be). Can’t have it tarnished by association.
There’s an awful lot of blood, now dried and encrusted, to wash off that star. I’m sure Polly and the gang will do their best to clean it up over the next few months.
Top-down tweaking. It’s the only allowable model in UK Plc.
Timely advice here –
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/12/02/x-things-keep-mind-ever-get-read-torture-report/
Imagine if the press-handout-puppies of the media had (a)read, (b) understood and (c) reported this report. Still there, in plain view for all to see. Best place to hide something, as I think Sherlock Holmes once remarked.
http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/pdf/12112008_detaineeabuse.pdf
YCMIU…
Goss served as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee from 1997 to 2004. He later became the CIA director, and internal CIA documents released in 2010 showed him agreeing with the destruction of videotapes documenting the interrogations of two Al Qaeda detainees. The destruction of those tapes prompted an investigation by the Senate intelligence committee and led to the report that will be released Tuesday. Goss is now the Chairman of the Board of the Office of Congressional Ethics.
http://time.com/3623578/torture-report-people-players/
Wonder if he’ll still be there when the report is released.
Kissinger was of course honoured by the Atlantic Bridge, when that was still going.. Mass murderer receives the “Medal of Freedom” from the Atlantic Bridge/Conservative Party.