The former British prime minister is set to be made a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter for his hawkish role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
London, January 10 (RHC)-- Tony Blair is scheduled to receive a controversial knighthood for the "war crimes" he instigated during his tenure as the UK's premier, says a British political commentator. The former British prime minister is set to be made a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter for his hawkish role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
London-based Rodney Shakespeare said in an interview with Press TV that granting the most senior British order of chivalry to Blair despite his infamous involvement in alleged war crimes during the US-led invasion of Iraq is a great surprise. "This is astonishing. The invasion of Iraq was predicated upon a deliberate lie -- that weapons of mass destruction existed when they did not. Blair openly upheld the lie," he said.
Shakespeare added that the subsequent invasion was a disaster for Iraq and it was followed by the Bremer Orders whose main purpose was to ensure that American and British companies could pillage the assets of the country. "At the same time the invasion was combining with the previous arming by the Americans of Daesh/ISIL elements which were being financially and philosophically supported by Saudi Arabia," he pointed out.
"To cap it all, the Bremer Orders abolished the Iraqi army so there were thousands of well-trained and highly motivated individuals who had no real alternative but to throw in their lot with Daesh/ISIL," Shakespeare said. Shakespeare noted: "the resultant head-chopping, throat-slitting, slaughtering of civilian populations, and the fall of Mosul are all directly attributable to the fostering of a deliberate lie by the Rt Hon Tony Blair."
In the meantime, many Britons believe that Blair should be imprisoned rather than being awarded a knighthood for his well-established militaristic role in the course of the brutal war on Iraq.
