TINA to Tony: Martin Kettle in The Guardian

There is no alternative to Tony Blair's policy on Iraq

Breathtaking stuff by Martin Kettle today. He says that regardless of the rights or wrongs of the war we should support Blair in Iraq now. Some quotes from the article are magnificent: "He [Blair] was never fully honest about what he was doing and why he was doing it".[biggest understatement since Noah said "hmm looks like rain"] "But strip away the self-indulgent grandiosity, and the current core messages are still surely right" [no; strip away the "self-indulgent grandiosity" and there's nothing left]. "For what is the alternative to the current policy of achieving the best and most secure transition to Iraqi self-government that can be managed in the circumstances? Not even the most uncompromising of Blair's critics have much of an answer to that question." [really? what about those who criticise a constitution that avoids majority rule and guarantees foreign, certainly private, ownership of the bedrock of the economy?] "In most of Iraq, life goes on without lethal violence." This has been true of most of the whole world since the dawn of written history. Most places on earth are not afflicted with with lethal violence, but Iraq, and let's face it Palestine, have more than their fair share. "The only practical and principled course is to back him, though without illusions" [well I'm thinking about it..... Nope chuck him out and get the troops out of Iraq]