Earlier this year it was discovered that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have violated federal law when she used her personal email account to conduct government business as Secretary of State. She was then ordered to turn over nearly 55,000 pages of emails to the State Department. These emails have since been released in batches. Most of the emails however have not gained much, if any, attention from the media. That all changed with an email released in mid-October.
What has been called a “damning memo” from then-Secretary of State Colin Powell to George W. Bush from March 2002, was made public on October 17. The memo, from a full year before the start of the Iraq War, states, “Blair continues to stand by you… as we move forward on the war on terrorism and on Iraq. He will present to you the strategic, tactical and public affairs lines he believes will strengthen global support for our common cause.” Adding that “Blair may suggest ideas on how to… make a credible public case on current Iraqi threats to international peace”.
At the time of the meeting, mentioned in the memo, between Bush and Blair in Crawford, Blair said “We’re not proposing military action.” However the memo states, “The UK will follow our lead in the Middle East.” Based on this leaked memo, it seems apparent that Bush & Blair were actually planning military action, which makes the statement by Blair technically true, even though the evidence used to justify the military action has long been proven to be based on falsehoods.
Nearly a week after the memo was made public, the Telegraph reports Tony Blair, in sharp contrast to statements he made as recently as 2007, “apologized for some of the mistakes that were made during the Iraq War, and says he recognizes ‘elements of truth’ behind opinion that the invasion caused the rise of [The Islamic State].”
This statement by Blair seems to confirm what many who were opposed to military action in Iraq, including former Rep. Ron Paul, had warned, “Balance of power in this area of the world has always been delicate, and outside interference serves only to destabilize. There’s no evidence that our current efforts will lead to more stability.”
Indeed, the US actions in Iraq as part of the Global War on Terror did create the destabilizing conditions that led to the rise of The Islamic State. Now, President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, and nearly every major party presidential hopeful are talking about ways to deal with The Islamic State. As can be seen with the recent refugee crisis, more military action will only cause more problems. Maybe it’s time the US military stayed out of a conflict, instead of inserting itself as World
Police!