Angus Scott launched a Change.org petition to strip Blair (left) of the knighthood given to him by the Queen has been signed by over half a million people!
Their unhappiness stems from Blair's decision in 2003 to follow the US and take his country to war in Iraq. In fact, many considered him a war criminal.
A report by John Chilcot in 2016 found that the former prime minister overplayed evidence about Saddam Hussein's arsenal and found he presented the case for war based on false intelligence about Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
And to rub salt in the wound, Blair said at the time that he would "take the same decision".
No one knows with certainty how many people have been killed and wounded in Iraq since the 2003 United States invasion.
According to the Watson Institute International & Public Affairs at Brown University, it is said that between 184,382 and 207,156 civilians have died from direct war related violence caused by the US, its allies, the Iraqi military and police, and opposition forces from the time of the invasion through October 2019.
Because not all war-related deaths have been recorded accurately by the Iraqi government and/or the US-led coalition, the numbers are likely to be much higher.
This doesn't take into account those who may have died as an indirect result of the war, due to damage to the infrastructure that provides food, health care and clean drinking water, and as a result, illness, infectious diseases, and malnutrition that could otherwise have been avoided or treated.
FYI, Blair was appointed as a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior British Order of Chivalry. It is an honour regularly bestowed on former prime ministers and entirely within the Queen’s gift – meaning, it was not awarded on the advice of the Government.
No comments:
Post a Comment