Impeach Blair. posted by Richard Seymour

Is Tony Blair a liar, or merely a mass murderer? Well, according Impeach Blair.org , he's given to distortion and gimcrack illusioneering. Using information gathered by Glen Rangwala and Dan Plesch, Adam Price MP has launched an initiative to have Blair impeached under parliamentary precedent. The Duke of Buckingham, it seems, was impeached in 1628 following a series of disastrous errors or ineptitudes, so Adam Price thought... Possibly, malingering in the back-forests of his mind was the thought of what happened a few years later. At any rate, the evidence seems compelling. The Prime Minister stands accused of:

1) Wilful exaggeration. He claimed in early 2002 that Saddam Hussein had "stockpiles of major amounts of chemical and biological weapons", while the assessment of the Joint Intelligence Committee was that Saddam "may have hidden small quantities of agents and weapons.

2) Distortion. He claimed the UN "proved" that Saddam had chemical and biological weapons because of unaccounted for capacity. The assessment of UNMOVIC head Hans Blix at the time was that "one must not jump to the conclusion that they [unaccounted for weapons] exist".

3) Lying his ass off. He claimed after the invasion that "our intelligence" had proven that those two alleged mobile weapons laboratories were part of a larger network of such facilities - even though intelligence had yet to examine the sites and later found them to be unconnected to any potential weapons facilities.

4) Withholding key evidence. He didn't mention to the public the assessment of British intelligence that Iraq would be unlikely to use any weapons in its possession unless struck first.

5) Lying his ass off and plunging the world into considerable danger. This time he claimed that if "we" didn't act now, it would only be a matter of time before "terrorism and weapons of mass destruction come together". The assessment of intelligence was at variance with the PM's. The government later admitted that "the JIC assessed that any collapse of the Iraqi regime would increase the risk of chemical and biological warfare technology or agents finding their way into the hands of terrorists, and that the Prime Minister was aware of this." Was he now?

6) Etc.

Those are just some examples of the impressive and slightly nerdy array of information dug up by Plesch and Rangwala.

Although, of course, Blair would thoroughly deserve to have someone kick his balls up into his mouth and force him to chew them, I wonder what the impeachment proceedings will achieve. In all likelihood, they will fail before they even hear the word "go". The press will sigh, then return to euphemising the situation in Iraq. And it is the latter to which we ought to direct ourselves. The most important thing to do now is to stop British soldiers from killing Iraqis by getting them out of there. By remarkable coincidence, this will stop British soldiers from being killed - two birds with one stone. It will also allow Iraqis to develop a state of normality and build their own democracy. And, not to miss the finer points, its achievement would be so many bullets thudding into the already cadaverish body politic and the mutant parasites thriving in it.

If you want to end Blair, end the occupation.