Desmond Tutu: Blair, Bush Should Face Criminal Charges

(Posted on 02/09/12)

Nobel peace prize winner Desmond Tutu made scathing remarks in an editorial last week. Among them, he says both former U.S. President George W. Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair should face international criminal charges for the "moral devastation caused by the Iraq war". He also claims American leaders lied about the presence of weapons of mass destruction and blamed the Iraqi invasion as one reason world peace can't exist and why the country as whole remains divided, deeper than ever before in that country's history.

Another revelation Archbishop Tutu concluded was that the decisions made by the United States and Great Britain are why a civil war continues to rage in Syria and that it's also likely the culprit behind ongoing conflicts in other mid eastern nations. Are his accusations accurate, though? After all, those odds of Blair or Bush facing criminal charges is a nonstarter. Whether one agrees with the war or not is moot - but strong accusations by Tutu cross the line as far as many are concerned. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called for Tony Blair and George Bush to be hauled before the international criminal court in The Hague and delivered a damning critique of the physical and moral devastation caused by the Iraq war.

He does bring up an interesting question, though. Have both the U.S. and the UK rightfully earned the label given by Tutu? Are the two countries bullies? There are many in both countries that certainly disagree with war; however, few, if any, would go so far as to call both the U.S. and UK governments bullies. Most saw the decisions to go to war as a responsibility with the goal of smoking out terrorists and making the global community safer. Perhaps most disturbing is Tutu's demand that the two face justice in The Hague due to the number of losses the war brought. "On these grounds...those responsible for this suffering and loss of life should be treading the same path as some of their African and Asian peers who have been made to answer for their actions in The Hague," he says. Remember, these types of cases usually include genocide and other humanity brutalities. Less than twenty cases have ever been brought to this level.

This news comes after Tutu declined to participate in a recent conference after he learned Tony Blair had been paid £150,000 to attend.