An Heretic Wrapped in an Enigma Wrapped in Teflon

Watch footage of the nauseating heretic with 'no regrets'. I hope, for his sake, that he doesn't display this kind of arrogance at the General Resurrection...Mind you, I'll grant that in the Face of Almighty God, it will be difficult.

Matthew Parris has written a good article on Tony Blair's defense of his record in the run up to the Iraq War. I particularly like this bit...

Tony Blair is a Manichean, or dualist. He believes that the Universe is best understood as an eternal struggle between the forces of good and evil, in contention for dominance. Christians are supposed to believe that the battle is already won, and Mr Blair’s dualism is (paradoxically) closer to Islamic fundamentalism than to the Gospels. For Mr Blair at least “Axis of Evil” was not just a Bushite soundbite: it was a profound philosophical insight into the meaning of world history. Once you understand this, there is no arguing with him.

Matthew Parris is correct in this analysis. Blair did and still does refer to Saddam as a "monster". The unfortunate characteristic displayed by Blair is not reflective of the way in which the Church describes anyone. We are capable of horrific choices, choices which destroy human life, choices which are mistaken, choices which we then attempt to justify because the 'ends justify the means', or so we think. But that does not make us a "monster". I agree with Matthew Parris, that there was, essentially, not one born-again, Bible-bashing fruit-loop running the war in Iraq, but two. Tony Blair will never 'repent' of the Iraq invasion, primarily because he believes that Saddam was the 'baddy' and he and George were the 'goodies'. Essentially, what we are talking about, here, is a man who treats the issue of war like a child playing soldier games with his friend. "Neeeoooow! Bang! Whoosh! We got him!"

As far as Tony is concerned, it does not matter whether the Iraq war was grounded in deception, spin and fabrication. It does not matter if it was illegal in international law. It does not matter if Parliament was mislead and with it, the British public. It does not matter, either, what we think of him. It does not matter that so many lives were sacrificed and it does not matter whether our soldiers died. Today, it did not appear to matter that the bereaved families were listening to his testimony.

The Iraq war was justified solely on the grounds that Saddam was a "monster". To Tony, it does not even matter that 9/11 had nothing to do with Iraq. Saddam was the bad guy and he and George were the good guys, so private sins such as wilful murder, habitual lying and the worship of money don't matter or are absolved by the removal of the "monster". We all fall short of the Glory of God, of course, but I am beginning to wonder whether the reason that Tony Blair took this country to war was solely because he was and still is, an heretic, unable to accept the teaching of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Well, let him take his money and his fortune and leave him in peace. After all, he is going to have all of eternity to reflect on his premiership. We should pray for the poor man because 'all the money in the World will never buy back your soul'. Hopefully, in years to come the story of his tenure will be used in Catholic classrooms in teaching the children about the dangers of heresy, moral relativism, religious fundamentalism, faith without reason and the seduction of the proud by money and power.

Of course, I'm not saying he's a "monster" exactly, just a poor sinner, a wounded creature, like me. The saddest thing of all is that he just can't admit that. If I were responsible for that much devastation, death, cruelty and barbarism, I'd just want to put my head on Our Lord's breast and weep until there was no more tears left to be cried. Still, that's what we should all be praying for...

Tony, this one goes out to you.