Daily Times

He was bent upon violence. Despite knowing that it could result in thousands of innocent people dying he decreed war on the opposing forces. He fabricated a skewed narrative to justify bloodshed. He rejected logical solutions in favour of fanatic actions.

The above-given description would definitely be bringing to one’s mind the description of an extremist, a terrorist, belonging to some notorious group, but this is about none other than Tony Blair. The Chilcot report is an appalling account of a man who not only was responsible for the death and destruction of millions in Iraq, but also has despite confessions to the crime not been penalised for a single act.

The lack of outrage on this report in the west is understandable but the lack of discourse and debate on these heinous war crimes in the Middle East and Muslim world is stunning. The Chilcot report is a chilling study of deliberate and coldblooded rejection and manipulation of facts to go into a war of mass deception. It is a repetitive reprimand of lies, spinning, distorting reality to fool the public and mislead the policy makers. It is a harrowing sequence of serious miscalculations and grave misadventure. It is a tragedy of immense proportion. Not only for what happened or is happening in Iraq, but what followed in Afghanistan and what is going to unfold in Syria.

The human loss as a result of this “error of judgment” by Blair is unprecedented. Loss of lives to violence is estimated to be around a quarter of a million. About five million people, or one in six Iraqi people, were displaced. The war pushed back Iraq an estimated 27 years of progress, and cost $394 billion in Iraqi economic revenue. Currently, 10 million Iraqis are in need of humanitarian assistance. Violence is spiralling day by day, and suicide bombings are a regular routine. Industry has been ruined, tourism deteriorating and unemployment and insecurity at an all-time high.

The sad part is that Blair accepts responsibility for an erroneous decision but says these were unintended consequences. The Chilcot report fairly and squarely states that what has happened post war was predicted and conveyed to Blair who turned a deaf ear to these warnings. The report is detailed and authenticated, and thus indisputable. It took seven years to compile, and is comprised of 2.6 million words to cover the whole investigation; 15,0000 documents were studied, and 129 witnesses interviewed. The findings are thus the most comprehensive and detailed on the scope of study. The inquiry covered the main question of whether it was right and necessary to go for war in Iraq in 2003, and whether the UK should have been better prepared for what followed post-war.

The answers to these questions state unequivocally that the Iraq War was not necessary, and not the last resort as other options of disarmament had not been exhausted. The reason for hurrying into this war — that UK was 45 minutes away from Weapons of Mass Destruction — was also unjustified. The objectives of the war were not met. The report clearly states the UN Security Council was undermined, and UK public opinion was entirely disdained on the personal intent of Blair who pledged allegiance to George Bush on “doing whatever” to support America. What else could be more damning?

The main question for the rest of the world, and especially the world that has become embroiled in more and more terrorism, is what to do with these findings, and what lessons do we learn to reverse this vicious cycle of terrorism that has gripped the world post these wars. Has terrorism decreased or increased by the measures taken by the western world and the Muslim world? Facts show a horrible state of failure. According to US government figures in 2014, 33,000 people died of terrorism around the world, an increase of 4000 percent since 2002. The number of jihadist groups has risen to almost 31,000 since 2002, and the very nations they went to war against or made allies on this war, experienced the highest number of terrorism, deaths of innocent civilians. Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan, Syria, and now Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh have become targets of a war that has gone out of control. Yet Blair says Iraq and the world is a better place now compared to the pre-Iraq war. The Chilcot report factually proves that before the war Blair was warned that this war could result in strengthening the al-Qaeda, and spiral terrorism, and he chose to ignore it.

Facts have proven that ISIS did not take birth in Syria but in Iraq. The 2003 war in Iraq was logistically facilitated from Syria, just like the Afghanistan war was facilitated from Pakistan. The refugees of Iraq war fled to Syria, and the Sunni/Shia conflict was instigated by Iran/Saudi Arabia regional politics. There is hardly any doubt left that the present Syrian conflict is almost a repetition, and a consequence of the war of mass deception initiated by US and UK.

A book that created a sensation in the economic world was Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins. Perkins says that he was actually an “economic hit man.” His job was to convince countries that are strategically important to the United States to accept enormous loans form the IMF and World Bank for infrastructure development, and to make sure that the lucrative projects were contracted to US corporations to keep countries subjugated. Time for a book on “Confessions of a Political Hitman” to reveal how politicians destroy millions of lives to feed their insatiable lust for power. The Chilcot report says that the legality of the war is a matter for the International Court of Justice. But is the responsibility over? The fact that Tony Blair has been caught red handed for lying to UK public and the world; the fact that his decision resulted in millions dying causing an Iraqi genocide; the fact that terrorism increased 4000 percent; and the fact that war on terror was actually war for terror. Muslim world is quiet on this, the UN is mum; and human right agencies are silent. This silence is deafening.

The writer is a columnist and analyst and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com