Wednesday, March 30, 2005
only power
JK Rowling's Voldemort has a maxim for our times and it is this: "There is no such thing as good and evil. There is only power."
http://www.sundayherald.com/48646
asks Dan Plesch in The Herald. "YOU, readers, are the jury." he says - and then makes out a very convincing case for the prosecution - concluding
To summarise (rather than quote) the points made by Dan Plesch in the Herald article:
It is looking horribly likely that Mr Blair and his fellow sofa-occupants will, in the short term at least, get away with the lies and deceptions. It has happened before.
Most people in Britain sense that something very wrong is at work but most haven't the time or patience to grasp what it is.
The spin machinery developed by the government has now evolved into a new life form. It is driven and fuelled by power lust. It might as well have green blood hidden under its apparently human exterior since it is convincing those who still have some vestiges of humanity that common sense is irrelevant, compassion - except when temporarily placed on the face of a Minister - is weakness, power is all that matters and - "resistance is useless."
Well, where is the resistance? The last few days suggest that Michael Howard's Central Office is manned by the same sort of automatons as those who have taken the socialism and compassion out of the Labour Party. Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough - it won't be voting Tory now.
Meanwhile, poor old Britain is losing its identity, its principles, its countryside, its self respect and its way.
http://www.sundayherald.com/48646
Tony Blair. You are charged with leading Britain into an illegal war... How do you plead?
asks Dan Plesch in The Herald. "YOU, readers, are the jury." he says - and then makes out a very convincing case for the prosecution - concluding
- "...if the precedent is established that ministers like David Blunkett can be fired if they commit a petty offence like fast-tracking a visa, but for the big crimes - like fast-tracking a war ...then the freedom for which we fought against Hitler will die out, our claim to export freedom will produce a cynical laugh around the world and the country will sink into a permanent condition of corruption."
To summarise (rather than quote) the points made by Dan Plesch in the Herald article:
- a leaked memorandum from his chief foreign policy advisor, David Manning, shows that Mr Blair agreed to hype up the threat of WMD
- The September 2002 dossier had all cautions and warnings removed
- The Prime Minister lied to Lord Hutton by claiming the reason for producing the dossier was the amount of new evidence coming across his desk
- The March 18 Commons motion for war stated that Saddam was in breach of UN resolution 1441. This was not the conclusion of the UN. The Prime Minister had not asked the intelligence services for their views on Iraq's WMD in the crucial months leading up to the war.
- The resolution before parliament placed the blame on a supposed veto threat by the French but the majority on the Security Council were against war - the French merely wanted more time to find the truth.
- The Commons motion said that the war was legal. The Prime Minister has described Lord Goldsmith's advice as a summary. It was not a summary of a considered legal analysis - it was all there was.
It is looking horribly likely that Mr Blair and his fellow sofa-occupants will, in the short term at least, get away with the lies and deceptions. It has happened before.
Most people in Britain sense that something very wrong is at work but most haven't the time or patience to grasp what it is.
The spin machinery developed by the government has now evolved into a new life form. It is driven and fuelled by power lust. It might as well have green blood hidden under its apparently human exterior since it is convincing those who still have some vestiges of humanity that common sense is irrelevant, compassion - except when temporarily placed on the face of a Minister - is weakness, power is all that matters and - "resistance is useless."
Well, where is the resistance? The last few days suggest that Michael Howard's Central Office is manned by the same sort of automatons as those who have taken the socialism and compassion out of the Labour Party. Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough - it won't be voting Tory now.
Meanwhile, poor old Britain is losing its identity, its principles, its countryside, its self respect and its way.
The Goldsmith pages on warmwell.com are here.
See also Panorama Programme and link to transcript - Iraq, Tony and the Truth
