The Sea And Uncertainty
Remember the Iran hostages crisis? Remember Tony Blair's thunderous denunications of the perfidious Persians, based upon his certainty that they were taken in Iraqi waters:
Tony Blair's spokesman said that if the talks were unsuccessful, the government may have to become "more explicit".
He said they were "utterly confident" the 15 had been in Iraqi, not Iranian, waters, when they were captured. source
The official report isn't quite so sure:
It quoted Martin Pratt, director of research at the International Boundaries Research Unit at Durham University, as saying that if the British coordinates were correct, it was difficult to see how Iran's claim could be legitimate.
“Nevertheless, there are sufficient uncertainties over boundary definition in the area to make it inadvisable to state categorically that the vessel was in Iraqi waters,” he was quoted as saying.
It's not the first time we saw the former PM take an unclear, nuanced situation that needs careful handling and present it as the complete opposite. This is why we call him a liar. Lucky his current job doesn't involve an unclear, nuanced situation that needs careful handling, eh?
[via Craig Murray]
David Owen has the job
David Owen has the job weighed up.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=/portal/2007/07/20/nosplit/ftblair120.xml
Interesting stuff. I don't
Interesting stuff. I don't have that much time for Owen, given his support, presumably under the banner of liberal interventionism) for the Iraq invasion at the time. Given his position, and that we proles *knew* at the time (the Powell speech, in my case) that we were being spun to and lied by people about as far from liberal as we can get, prompts the question 'what the hell was he thinking?'. He does, however, spot the key point, but misses a lesson - Attlee and Truman were driven by a genuinely inclusive and modernising instinct, Dubya, Blair and Thatcher by an essentially reactionary us-and-them view. Call it Left and Right, if you want.
Given that, it's a good idea to give your support to politicians with a track record of supporting an inclusive view, as they're more likely to avoid hearing only the voices they want to hear (those in his head for Blair, one presumes). They're in rather short supply, though - can we think of any? Livingstone, possibly.
The good Doctor has