hee hee hee

Just what Call me Dave didn't want.

Priceless.

Is he wrong?

No.

It's intervene or watch another Srebrenica happen. Not really a choice at all.

Blair who?

Blair has no right to talk? Yes he has every right to express an opinion, has the denial of free-speech infected the political-left so much where free speech is no longer tolerated.

A few differences between intervention in Iraq and in Libya. In Libya there is a popular uprising underway; in Iraq in 2003 there was not. In Libya there is an impending humanitarian catastrophe; in Iraq in 2003 there was not. And the really big one - in relation to Libya there is a UN resolution authorising force - in Iraq 2003, there was not.

Recent events don't vindicate Blair. In fact the opposite - the uprisings show Arabs can bring about democracy themselves and don't need it imposed by Western armies.

They're both bastards

Can we please just stop giving this man the oxygen...

Oh, what the hell, I can't be bothered to finish that sentence, as it's better this way.

Its interesting to think that all these toppled or wobbling regimes needed to prevent them being removed was the Metropolitan Police to kettle in protestors for 24hrs (effectivley mass-false imprisonment) until they all peed themselves or starved. Or do what the police in the USA and elsewhere did during World Trade talks and pre-emptively arrest protestors the night before and lock them up without charge for days.. oh,and give them a good kicking and gassing for good measure.

Perhaps we could do with the odd no fly-zone closer to home!

@ David Hall

Agreed! And you could also throw in secret undercover policemen infiltrating the ranks of the protesters!

Every time I see Tony Blair back in the news I'm reminded of the fact that even after decapitation the body of a adult cockroach will continue to live on for up to three weeks.

The most blatant liar ever to hold high office in my long lifetime. Also a war criminal. I ling for the day he is expelled from the party I loved.

When will this stupid evil man start to realise that we do not give a damn about what he thinks. He is yesterdays man...history...go away.

Tory Blair delivered three stunning political victories, things only went pear shaped when gormless Gordon bullied his way into number 10 and let-rip with the nations credit card.

Blood, blood, blood and more blood. And oil, oil...and arms, arms...bang, bang, blood, blood and oil.

@ Luddite - 'Whas the fucking-lefts alternative?'

Proofreading, apostrophes and a lot less of you for starters!

Since manly Dave has the endorsement of armchair warriors from the Guardian to the Times, Tony's praise won't harm him. Start killing people and instantly you are a warrior hero and it becomes every Brit's patriotic duty to wave the flag and cheer.

@the armchair warmongers - just a few questions.....

Any chance of some evidence of this popular uprisng? How popular is it exactly? Who the f**k are these rebels, who have invited violent foreign and imperialist countries to wage war on their own soil? Do you know anything about them at all? If you don't know, why are you willing to see a war in support of them? And finally do you get a warm fuzzy feeling inside when watching the big bangs and bright lights on mainstream TV news as peoples live get obliterated?

What the anti-Blairites (easily as odious as the pro-faction) fail to see is that Blair's legacy is a curate's egg on this issue. We had the bad part, now maybe the better end.

Until Kosovo, to our eternal shame, it was all "sacrosanct national sovereignty" and backed by the practice of decades of great power moral degeneracy. Blair's whole approach was "another way" and who apart from the disgusting apologists for the Serbian regime (there are no concentration camps) doubts the legitimacy of the lesson learned over Bosnia applied in Kosovo. In Iraq, I only wish Blair had been able to dispense with the fig leaf of WMD and stuck with "we're not going to stand by and see this bastard do any more of this to his own people".

The fact forgotten by the anti-Iraq war brigade is that Saddam Hussein breached his probation six years after the 1st Gulf War, and that he was on licence from the UN Security Council. We know why now (fear of Iran) as he told us that after his capture. But where was the legal failure? Look at the UN Charter from the perspective of what should then have happened, six years not 12 years on. The 5 permanent members had a lawful duty to take action then. France, Russia and China ensured nothing happened with UN authority. Corrupt practices indeed. Nonsenses about weapons inspections. It's like someone on probation breaking his terms and saying "I'm a good boy now, no need to comply". So such failure destroyed the very purpose of the UN and, if one likes to view it in this way, what the US and the UK then did was to act when the lawful power failed in its clear duty to act 6 years before the 2nd Gulf War. Vigilantes?

So with Libya, we see the 5 powers at least agreeing not to stymie UN authorised action, and thus enabling a lawful example of what can be called the Blair Doctrine. Not about regime change? Pull the other one. Of course it is and the whole thing has been given prior impetus and legitimacy by the democratic change movements in the countries of N Africa. The end is signalled to the bleat of every dictatorship that whinges 'national sovereignty', the French climb aboard and Call me Dave squirms at comparisons with Blair.

Easy to talk about getting UN authority when the scumbags who held back over Iraq now at least abstain and thus avoid a veto. Had they cast that veto, Call me Dave would now be in New Tony's position. We might well speculate that had the UK and US not pursued the path they did, there would now be no question of the No Go Zone being enforced on Gaddafi's thugs. Can it be done with every scumbag regime, often advanced as an argument not to do it at all? Even Callme made it clear that common sense says you do what you can when you can. De ja view with a twist.

But anyone who thinks it's merely a matter of air power may have to think again. Depends on how the alternative regime (the wascally webels) now perform with the odds evened up. What cannot happen is that Gaddafi is permitted to restore his regime over people who are fighting with their lives to resist that. Negotiation? On what basis? Leave some parts of Libya under his benificent control? Can they have a vote on that?