Former PM, Tony Blair, denies that his latest outburst against Iran has anything to do with his institute receiving millions of dollars from Saudi Arabia. Since resigning from office, the discredited ex-Labour leader is estimated to have amassed £100 million fortune, including millions from a number of Middle East contracts. His numerous charities, including his Faith Foundation and African Governance Initiative, are bankrolled by wealthy benefactors, including the US Government and even the Swedish lottery.
For a self-declared man of peace, Blair has a tremendous appetite for war, committing soldiers to action in Kosovo, Iraq, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan while in office. Since then he has urged military action in several more countries, including Syria and Libya. His former political agent has suggested that he was driven by an unshakeable religious conviction of being right. “It was part of Tony living out his faith” and the belief that “good should triumph over evil”, John Burton has claimed. Blair himself has also admitted he was influenced by his own version of Christianity.
His latest outburst in the Washington Post ‘Don’t make the mistake of dismissing Iran’s ideology.’ is timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. The country continues to exert, what he called “an often misunderstood and underestimated influence.” To prove this, Blair himself mischievously attempts to link the revolution with “radical Sunni extremists” who stormed Makkah later in 1979 and “inspired to create a Sunni version of the revolution.”
It appears to be yet another one of Blair’s ‘dodgy dossiers’ most infamously used to try to and justify the US-led war against Iraq which he himself largely instigated but appears unable to come to terms with. What he now wants everyone to supposedly believe is that it is really Iran which is responsible for all the ills in the world, including the growth of al-Qa’ida, Daesh and other terrorist groups.
In line with Israeli propaganda, Blair claims that the revolution has made Iran the “single biggest destabilising force in the Middle East.” Surely, this title should belong to Tel Aviv which is the world’s longest standing serial transgressor of international law?
His underlying misleading claim is that the “politicisation of religion is the bane of the Middle East” and that Iran is equivalent to a terrorist state. “It is misguided to see Iran as following the principles of realpolitik. It is ultimately defending and where possible extending ideological interests. The ideology, like its Sunni Islamist counterpart, is driven by a belief that religion – and one view of one religion – should be converted into a political system of government. Such a worldview necessarily becomes totalitarian.”
Without making implicit threats, Blair maintains that “every option should remain on the table” in dealing with Iran. “Our allies in the region (presumably including Saudi Arabia and Israel) should know we are with them and can be depended upon.”
Almost 12 years after stepping down from office, Blair continues to be in denial about the half-a-million deaths caused by invading Iraq, for which he holds significant personal culpability. His convictions remain antagonistic and deflective of his wrong decision that made the world a far more dangerous place.
