“Britain joined the United States’ invasion to oust the Taliban in 2001 because it feared America would ‘nuke the shit’ out of Afghanistan, the former British ambassador to Washington reportedly told a television documentary to be screened Saturday.”
Christopher Meyer said that fear explained why Prime Minister Tony Blair chose to stand with US President George W. Bush in his decision to invade Afghanistan in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks — to temper his aggressive battle plans.
“Blair’s real concern was that there would be quote unquote ‘a knee-jerk reaction’ by the Americans … they would go thundering off and nuke the shit out of the place without thinking straight,” Meyer reported told the documentary, according to the Mirror.
That’s cool.
Pretty much everyone was in favor of going into Afghanistan. And it seems reasonable the Blair would fear that Shrub would fly off the handle.
What’s not reasonable is that Blair yapped at Bush’s heels all the way into Iraq.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:11 pmit feared America would “nuke the shit” out of Afghanistan
Interesting choice of words from a Professional Diplomat.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:13 pmif he thinks we’d do that then the American image abroad really is screwed…
June 18th, 2007 at 3:13 pmif he thinks we’d do that then the American image abroad really is screwed…
Comment by Pete Bogs — June 18, 2007 @ 3:13 pm
It’s not that he thinks we’d do that so much as he thought BUSH would do that.
And therein lies the tragedy of putting a moron in the Oval Office.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:17 pmWow, is this another shot across the bow in Iran? The language is a bit “undiplomatic”, but we are talking about the dry drunk cowboy here.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:21 pmAt least he accurately captured the rapturous, beautiful mind of the chymperor!
June 18th, 2007 at 3:21 pmYep, those were probably the words Bush was using when thinking about them Taleban evil-doers as they burned american flags and laughed at the 9/11 disaster. Most uneducated inbreeders say we oughta nuke the shit outta Afghanistan, so it’s not unthinkable that Bush said such a thing. And we know Dick Cheney is still thinking of doing it to Iran! Those two shitheads would LOVE to nuke something! TI would complete their madness and power surged egos..especially since our forces (even if not depleted and underequipped) could not put a dent in Iran.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:21 pmSo now we know how the world is when the “crazies” are in charge. I’ll bet you wish for the good ole days of my administration!
June 18th, 2007 at 3:32 pmBut if you nuke terrorists till they glow, then you can shoot them in the dark.
It’s clearly a win-win.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:36 pmBut if you nuke terrorists till they glow, then you can shoot them in the dark.
It’s clearly a win-win.
Comment by squegeebooo — June 18, 2007 @ 3:36 pm
And maybe they would quit bitching about only having power for a few hours a day. This way there is always light around.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:39 pmLet the rehabilitation of Tony Blair begin…….
June 18th, 2007 at 3:43 pmNuke Iran and Saudi Arabia.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:45 pmthat’ll cripple Islam for centuries.
Heck Nuke Syria too!
I’ve been stockpiling canned goods and as much bottled water as I can. I am totally convinced that bush/cheney intend to start WWIII. Even Condi is starting to get nervous.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:53 pmSqueegy & Tundra,
Great tag-team action. :D
June 18th, 2007 at 4:03 pmWell, Bubbleboy is still wanting to “Nuke the Sh!t” out of someplace that has people with brown skin, he wants to nuke Iran bad.
IGNORE THE TROLLS – Debate good, Trolls suck
June 18th, 2007 at 4:07 pmBlair was worried about Afghanistan but NOT Iraq…? That makes a lot of sense, especially since nearly the entire world had our back with going into Afghanistan…
June 18th, 2007 at 4:13 pmZooey
Great tag-team action. :D
What can I say, you know how we roll.
June 18th, 2007 at 4:35 pmNice try, Ambassador Meyer, but the Blair legacy will remain that of “lap-dog”. That supposed logic of following Bush into Afghanistan does not account for Blair’s Iraq stance and involvement.
June 18th, 2007 at 4:41 pmSqueegie and Tundra, very nice.
Blair knew he was dealing with a little man capable of temper tantrums.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:02 pmI don’t buy it. Doesn’t pass the smell test.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:28 pmAfgans must be wondering:
With friend like Tony, who needs enemies??
June 18th, 2007 at 6:23 pmTony Blair = War Criminal. So why should we believe anything this fartbag has to say? 9/11 was a lie, all wars are lies, and WWWIII is completely avoidable. Tell your family you love them, read up on some real history, realize these wars are based on lies, false-flag terror, and greed, and GET OUT THERE AND END THIS WAR WITH ME!
June 18th, 2007 at 6:27 pm> I don’t buy it. Doesn’t pass the smell test.
Indeed. Everyone knew that the US, being the armored cockroach with an attitude that it is, would go medieval on the .. er .. medieval country of Afghanistan but generally no-one thought about nukes. Uncertain was only how long the campaign would take, with Afghanistan known as the Graveyard of Empires etc., whereby a long campaign might possibly have given incentive to tactical nuking, but in the end all went “well”, in a manner of speaking.
Related:
Why the Joint Chiefs of Staff are a failed institution:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/06/17/joint_failure?mode=PF
June 18th, 2007 at 6:30 pmBunk.
Nations that can stand up a military are restrained enough not to nuke the Taliban, even AFTER 911.
The rest of the world most likely couldn’t say the same about their own nations, or leaders.
Iran lacks the self-restraint and is most assuredly following a path of destruction that threatens the free, civilized world.
But keep blaming America! It’s safe, easy, cost nothing … except our souls, future, hardwon heritage.
June 18th, 2007 at 6:34 pm@ps a
Nations that can stand up a military are restrained enough not to nuke the Taliban, even AFTER 911.
9/11 was not perpetrated by the Taliban. Period.
Iran lacks the self-restraint and is most assuredly following a path of destruction that threatens the free, civilized world.
I think you mean America, right?
June 18th, 2007 at 6:41 pmTony is buying “insurance” here.
As if to say, if somebody (Afganistan, Iran, Pakistan??) ends up getting nuked, it’s because I’m no longer there, as a peacemaker, of course, to prevent it.
But does he know something about nuke plans that the rest of us don’t?
June 18th, 2007 at 6:46 pm…… remember, once upon the time the Bush Administration floated the idea of tactucal nukes around when concerned about the caves in tora bora ……
June 18th, 2007 at 10:05 pmwell.. at least he had the “without thinking” part dead on…
June 18th, 2007 at 11:59 pmUntrue, Christopher Meyer! It’s a rationalisation after the fact.
On the Parkinson TV show, Blair said he prayed to God, and God told him to do it.
Also, he (Blair) was keen on getting rid of Saddam from 1998.
June 19th, 2007 at 3:24 amNot that I’m looking at this with rose-tinted glasses, but the British government’s line to their public was always that it was best for Tony Blair to go along with what the Bush administration was doing in public discourse and in foreign policy, that way he’d at least be able to exert a moderating influence over the crazies in private – it was the only way they could sell such craven behavior on the international stage to the electorate. There were very few signs at the time that sucking up to Washington by pitching in to their wars had given increased access but perhaps the alternative, had Blair not marched in lockstep with Bush, would have been even worse.
June 19th, 2007 at 5:15 amI have no problem with the Afghan invasion. You could see the issues in that place during the Clinton regime. It’s the Iraq thing that got me. Poorly done and unnecessary. I’m worried they are going to nuke the Middle East because of it’s instability…exacerbated by the US, of course.
June 19th, 2007 at 5:44 amMr Blair told Michael Parkinson… how he had struggled with his conscience when making decisions about a potential war in Iraq.
“When you’re faced with a decision like that, and some of those decisions have been very, very difficult, most of all because you know… there are people’s lives… and, in some case, their death,” he said.
“The only way you can take a decision like that is to try to do the right thing according to your conscience.”
He said: “I think if you have faith about these things, then you realise that that judgement is made by other people… and if you believe in God, it’s made by God as well.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4773124.stm
June 20th, 2007 at 2:05 am