More than a decade after the military intervention in Iraq which killed hundreds of thousands of unarmed civilians and wounded many more; damaged an entire nation, which otherwise is likely to have enjoyed more inner peace, the Chilcot inquiry report sparks internationally, burning revelation and arguments through which the finger of blame is pointed at Tony Blair, one of the youngest Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom who ruled the country from 1997 to 2007 influenced Governments of the region and the world from that high position.
He says, sorry, not once but many times. He says he has been unsuccessful in the mission. Therefore, he has disguised himself as the prince of peace in the Middle East and attempted to whitewash the crimes that happened during his time of control. But, Chilcot report has shattered and flattened his dreams.
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair, known as Anthony / Tony Blair, played a major role in the alleged war on terror, which led to reconstruct the failing western hegemonic policies and it has given an opportunity to autocrats to rule the world. Now it is very easy to blame him and shame him as a “criminal”, but the real story goes much deeper than that.
When one brings to the mind’s eye, the big picture, one sees many issues that are less visible to the surface reader. One would, for example, wonder why the late President of Venezuela, openly said, in the UN, that he has smelled the devil visiting the noble place (UN General Assembly). He was referring to none other than the former President of United States of America, George W. Bush.
Since then, matters have gotten worse. Chaves has left us after leaving as heritage his discovery about global forces of governance or should one say misgovernance?
The phenomena is not the oppressed citizens turning into terrorists, but those who were groomed by “democratic institutionalised minds” turning into terrorists through fights for the “noble cause”.
So, what has history taught us? Are we going to witness and learn different lessons from the sentence on “hypocritical” policy makers? Will they hang the perpetrators like they hung the late Saddam Hussain who was hiding in a hole with few bundles of dollars and an AK47?
The most important question is will this report play any significant role to stop or reduce the agony of repression in the Middle East and elsewhere?
First, you find the enemy. If there is no enemy you create one. Then you design the utter false propaganda machinery. Once you think you have everyone’s attention, you drop the bombs; Lead your own countrymen to kill unarmed civilians, and overtake the land and other resources. Then deploy the autocrats to plunder the resources. Once you are done in the project, then appoint the commission to investigate. Isn’t it a pattern of most deliberate actions if not for which the victimised places and their people would have been better off?
The Chilcot report if a report about cruelty. The Chilcot report is a report on lawlessness at the top. The Chilcot report is a report about deception by rulers. The Chilcot report is a report on the deliberate actions without caring about the truth. The Chilcot report is a report on distortion. The Chilcot report is a revelation on how power is played out to feed the desires of the person-in-charge. The Chilcot report is a revelation of injustice under the cloak of Aid. The Chilcot report is a sorry report on the current state of humanity.
So the ultimate question here is – what are we going to achieve out of the sorry reports when “sorry” has no meaning in action? Please, let our fellow humans experience the new and genuine leadership that is not only different to the past but one that would lead us to find our own justice through ourselves.
( Nilantha Ilangamuwa edits the Sri Lanka Guardian, an online daily newspaper, and he also an editor of the Torture: Asian and Global Perspectives, bi-monthly print magazine. )