Tony Blair visit to NZ.
Ok, Tony Blair has honoured us with a fleeting visit to Auckland after doing a tour of the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and catching up with his buddy John Howard no doubt. John Campbell from TV3 had an “exclusive” interview (who cares if it was exclusive or not, surely it’s more important what the interview was about) to ask the hard questions. Oh yeah. Fair enough, he did ask Blair directly if he regrets the façade that was presented as the excuse to start the war with Iraq. And as usual Blair gave a totally bullshit answer about the need for democracy, stability in the Middle East, how much the people wanted democracy, and get this – putting “Western standards” aside, no-one wants to be ruled by a dictator. That is, the same rhetoric that is given without actually answering the question. However, this is where I don’t get it. Instead of letting Blair get away with this answer why didn’t Campbell then ask Blair that if he is so concerned about the issues of dictatorships and freedom, what is Blair now doing to address foreign policy practices, given that Britain is siding with the US who has a history of putting puppet dictators in power (as does Britain with the likes of Mugabe), plus the fact that Britain was supplying Saddam with arms to wage the war against Iran when it suited Britain. That is, we know that Western governments meddle with countries when it suits and help create the huge mess in the first place. Blair kept answering by turning the focus to “going on from here” but surely the question of whether any lessons have been learnt from the past should have been put him.
Am I missing something here? I just don’t understand why these types of questions are not asked. Is Campbell instructed on what he can/can’t ask ? In all this nonsense with Iraq, when the same “he was bad and needed to go anyway” answer is given. Why do the they (reporters) never ask “well, why did you wine and dine him in the first place when it suited you, knowing full well that he was a megalomaniac?”
I would so love to hear that question. Maybe it has been asked and is hidden amongst the piles somewhere. How do I find out if it has and what the answer was ?
