As reported by the Sunday Herald.
Alex Salmond wants Tony Blair to face international criminal proceedings over Britain’s involvement in the Iraq War – if the Chilcot inquiry finds the former British Prime Minister made a secret commitment to US president George Bush to support the invasion.
The former Scottish First Minister and current SNP foreign affairs spokesman in Westminster has revealed he intends to reassemble a cross-party parliamentary group that launched a campaign to have Blair impeached ten years ago, in order to make plans for action prior to the publication of Sir John Chilcot’s 2.6 million-word Iraq war inquiry report in July.
Bringing the cross party parliamentary group together again comes ten years after both the SNP and Plaid Cymru tabled a motion calling for an immediate investigation of the war. The motion was defeated by a majority 25.
Salmond believes that any prosecution of Blair should be carried out by the International Criminal Court – the tribunal that has jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and ‘crimes of aggression’.
Salmond quoted in the Sunday Herald…
“My own view is that if Chilcot finds (…) that Blair pre-committed to war in the Crawford Ranch in 2002, (then) everything that happened after that was a fabrication in order to provide a justification for a decision that had already been made.
“So that’s dodgy dossiers, slanted intelligence and a whole panoply of deception that was designed in order to justify that original pre-commitment, which was unknown, in my view, to certainly most members of the cabinet – perhaps all members of the cabinet outwith the very narrow charmed circle around Blair.
“If the Chilcott report finds that causal link, then that would in my view provide the body of evidence. And therefore it would be up to a group of citizens to take this evidence to the office of the prosecutor of the ICC and ask him or her to investigate…
Now sure, the upcoming Chilcot findings and alleged recent reports about an impending nationwide shortage of whitewash may well be utterly unconnected. And Tony Blair may indeed be a fine and upstanding expression of humanity.
But winter’s here and I’d dearly like something to celebrate at some point during the dark months.
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress