Blair, Iraq, Syria, the West and the Middle East!

Iraq, Syria and what’s happening in the Middle East today and its causes are complex but not impossible to understand.

Although, this weekend, former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair was right to say what’s happening in Iraq will affect the West and the rest of the region, and we need to do something about it. He was wrong to think military intervention is the solution. He was also mistaken to claim that events in Iraq today are NOT caused by, or related to the 2003 Iraq War, and even more wrong to blame it all on Syria and what’s happening there now.

Especially when actually the opposite is true!

Unfortunately for Blair and those who stood beside him in the Iraq War of 2003, ISIS and today’s trouble in the region – the fractious Iraq, plus the rise of Islamism, predominately home-grown western Islamists – are all a direct result of the 2003 Iraq invasion. And while what’s happening in Syria is a by-product of the Arab Spring movement – that overthrow lifelong Arab dictators – the Arab Spring itself is also in part a result of Iraq 03.

However, as horrifying and as distressing the images of killings and mass executions we see streamed in our TV screens are, the ONLY solution is diplomacy, negotiations and humanitarian aid – because any military intervention will only worsen the situation and deepens it.

As severe as matters are on the ground, military intervention isn’t the answer and will not be welcomed. There is no appetite for any war in the West and talk of troops on the ground, at shore or next door will only intimidate, harden matters and escalate them further.

As for talk about building democracies and the democratisation of the region, it is just laughable. Because the biggest dictatorship in the region still oppresses its people, funds and supports extremism and even exports terror, while at the same time continues to be the West’s best friend and ally.

Unless the West begins to treat Saudi Arabia as a dictatorship, no one in that region will take what they say genuinely.

In many parts of the Middle East and the East, the West is now seen as Oil thirsty, arrogant, controlling and intervening. Forty even thirty years ago that arrogance and interference was overlooked and their Oil thirst welcomed as a powerbroker, but not now. Now, even those who agree with the West cannot afford to turn a blind eye or openly show their position.

That’s why we see a rise in the ‘give them a taste of their own medicine’ attitude.

I like Blair, and think he was the best Labour Prime Minster. But to continuously defend the 2003 Iraq War as 100% the right thing to do, without admitting ‘…though it was the right decision at the time it turned out to be wrong’ will only diminish him and his stance. And that will eventually overshadow all of his other achievements – including what he did internally for his own party. And, it will also, force even those who admire and respect him to distance themselves.

And that cannot be good! Can it?

Making a mistake is human, admitting it is righteously humble, but insisting it’s not when everyone plus all the facts show that it is, is doggedly unwise.

Blair has the world stage and the respect of many at his fingertips. It will be very sad to see all that plus his life achievements overshadowed by stubbornness.