(52) British Ex-Diplomats Assail Blair on Mideast

[G_j]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/27/international/europe/27BLAI.html?th=&pagewanted=print&position=

April 27, 2004

British Ex-Diplomats Assail Blair on Mideast
By PATRICK E. TYLER

LONDON, April 26 — In a rebuke of British and American policy in the Middle East, 52 former ambassadors and senior government officials signed a letter on Monday criticizing Prime Minister Tony Blair for his unflinching support for the Bush administration's approach to occupied Iraq and to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The letter, delivered to Mr. Blair's office and released to the news media, asserted that those policies were "doomed to failure."

Among those signing the letter were former ambassadors to Israel, Iraq and other Middle Eastern capitals, as well as senior British envoys to the United Nations.

They accused both governments of abandoning important principles of impartiality in the Holy Land, while engaging in poor planning and military overkill against Iraqi resistance forces in the Sunni Muslim areas west of Baghdad and in Shiite Muslim strongholds around Najaf.

"It is not good enough to say that the use of force is a matter for local commanders," the letter said, adding, "Heavy weapons unsuited to the task in hand, inflammatory language, the current confrontations in Najaf and Falluja, all these have built up rather than isolated the opposition."

..more..

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. How about all the current ones?

Isn't time for them to begin to speak out?

[DeepModem Mom]

2. This is a bigger story in the UK than it would be in the US --

The press communicates its significance. It's been thought that Blair's closeness to Bush might be attributable to his wanting to have influence (and that is at least part of the reason he's stuck with Bush), but the diplomats, and, hopefully, more and more Britons, realize that Blair has no real influence on Bush's disastrous policies, and only drives both UK and US farther in the wrong direction. From the article:

"The diplomats said they shared Mr. Blair's view that Britain has an interest in working closely with the United States in order to exert 'real influence as a loyal ally.'

But now is the time, they said, to use such influence, and if it is unwelcome in the Bush administration, then 'there is no case for supporting policies which are doomed to failure.'"

[G_j]

3. heard the story reported this morning

on NPR.

[Moderator]

4. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x511722