The damage done by Blair and Bush: "In his speech in Sedgefield on March 5, Tony Blair went as far as he has been yet to admitting the dubious legal nature of the Iraq war. Though he was at pains to point out that the invasion was justified within the traditional scope of international law, he added that 'it may well be that under international law as presently constituted, a regime can systematically brutalise and oppress its people and there is nothing anyone can do ... This may be the law, but should it be?' Blair seemed to be echoing Pentagon official Richard Perle's confession of last November: 'I think in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing.'
... Blair has skilfully turned liberal criticism on its head, so that opposition to the war on legal grounds equates to support for the old, amoral international order. But there are many who fear that far from being the midwife of global justice, this attitude to international law could derail attempts at progressive reform and render Britain a weaker and less effective advocate of human rights overseas."
- posted by geoff @ #