J'accuse 2

Ian Bell in Sunday Herald on why there will not be a real, open and honest inquiry in the iraq war...

"Logic says that a real investigation into war and occupation would lead, necessarily, to criminal proceedings. This country has certain treaty obligations. England retains, more or less, a tradition of common law. We say we adhere to international codes over such things - don't laugh - as torture. Were there to be a real inquiry into Iraq, some people would be locked up.

And who would be first among the equally guilty? Who would be nabbed as prime architect, ringleader, chief conspirator? Cast aside the deceit, take the foreign secretary and the rest at their weasel words, and a single possibility remains: Blair would have to do time.

That is not, or is not intended to be, melodramatic. International law is less clear-cut than some of us would like, but there is precious little ambiguity over war crimes. Those of us who were writing about illegality even when Hans Blix and his weapons inspectors were being hustled from Iraq were not posturing. Saddam was not preparing an attack against the United Kingdom; no UN mandate existed; no-one's sovereignty was at stake. Those are the legal grounds for war. They did not pertain."

yep... and J'accuse 2...

"The last time I accused Tony Blair of war crimes, a reader involved me in an excellent - but oddly depressing - joke. This person took me at my word (for once) and wrote to the chief constable of Strathclyde to say that certain serious accusations had been made in a newspaper concerning a prime minister, and what did the polis propose to do about it?

As usual, I can't lay hands on the letter. The point was sound, nevertheless. Forget the Brown government and all the investigations that will never take place. There is prima facie - six months in a law faculty, eh? - evidence of crimes against humanity. There is, moreover, a growing body of fact and anecdote suggesting the abuse of office, conscious deceit and conspiracy. None of that is a joke.

But still I wait, as you may have guessed, for the good cops of the Strathclyde force to take me into custody for accusing a certain Mr Blair of murder...

...come and get me, copper. J'accuse."