Sunday, September 2, 2012

Tutu urges trial for Blair and Bush over Iraq

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called for British ex-prime minister Tony Blair and former US president George W Bush to face trial in The Hague for their role in the Iraq war.

The South African peace icon, writing in Sunday's Observer newspaper, accused the pair of lying about weapons of mass destruction and said the invasion left the world more destabilised and divided "than any other conflict in history".

Tutu argued that different standards appeared to apply for prosecuting African leaders than western counterparts, and added that the death toll during and after the Iraq conflict was sufficient for Blair and Bush to face trial.

'Playground bullies'

"On these grounds alone, in a consistent world, those responsible for this suffering and loss of life should be treading the same path as some of their African and Asian peers who have been made to answer for their actions in The Hague," Tutu wrote in the weekly UK newspaper.

"But even greater costs have been exacted beyond the killing fields, in the hardened hearts and minds of members of the human family across the world."

"I did not deem it appropriate to have this discussion... As the date drew nearer, I felt an increasingly profound sense of discomfort about attending a summit on 'leadership' with Mr Blair," he added.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner also argued that the US-led 2003 Iraq war to topple Saddam Hussein had created the backdrop for civil war in Syria, and a potential wider Middle East crisis involving Iran.

"The then-leaders of the United States [Bush] and Great Britain [Blair] fabricated the grounds to behave like playground bullies and drive us further apart," he wrote.

"They have driven us to the edge of a precipice where we now stand - with the spectre of Syria and Iran before us." More