“This site offers a reward to people attempting a peaceful citizen’s arrest of the former British prime minister, Tony Blair, for crimes against peace.”
So goes the opening statement of the website arrestblair.org. So far, five people have taken up the call—though apparently the wily former-prime minister got away (wish we had video on his attempts). And his problems keep piling up: he is accused of having an affair with Rupert Murdoch’s then-wife, and he was just named in the News of the World phone hacking scandal. Specifically, he allegedly advised the newspaper’s company to clear Murdoch (head of the now-defunct newspaper's parent company) of wrong-doing through a “Hutton-style” inquiry. This refers to the widely-criticized investigation at Blair's behest that absolved his government from involvement in the suspicious death of a government scientist. The scientist had previously claimed the government “sexed up” the intelligence case for invading Iraq.
And that leads to yet another problem for Blair: there is an ongoing public inquiry into Britain’s war with Iraq at the behest of the government under Blair's successor, Gordon Brown. It seems doubtful the outcome will be good for Blair.
All politicians make embarrassing decisions they wish they could take back, but Blair seems to have an uncanny knack for doing so. He defended Egypt’s deposed dictator Hosni Mubarak as “immensely courageous and a force for good,” and reports allege he considered asking the Queen to bestow honorary knighthood on Syria’s dictator, Bashar al-Assad. Blair’s best bet may be to lay low and hope the 24/7 news cycle gets distracted by something else and forgets about him. Or maybe he could take up painting? It worked for George W. (Image: commons.wikimedia.org)
