Greek lawyers aim to take Blair to court
High-ranking Greek lawyers are to begin efforts to have Tony Blair and other members of the Government indicted to the International Criminal Court.
The Athens’ Bar Association has announced that it believes it can make a case for indictment of Tony Blair, the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, and the Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon. The case will be built on their waging war on Iraq.
The United Kingdom is a signatory to the International Criminal Court, and having backed American action in Iraq may now be used to highlight the very reason that the USA refused to sign up to it, fearing politically motivated court action against its leaders and citizens.
Although it is unlikely such an action will see members of the cabinet imprisoned, the move highlights the strong feeling over the war in Iraq, which goes further than concerns over its possible illegality.
According to a survey by TNS, public opinion across Europe and the UK indicates great mistrust of the British government on its calls for war. The poll conducted on behalf of CNN and Time Magazine indicates that four in ten Britons believe the Government deliberately misled the public on the reasons for war, while nearly six in ten French people do.
It also appears that Europeans are less likely than Britons to be persuaded by other justifications for war such as the possible humanitarian case. Less than a quarter of Germans believe that the war was justified even if the intelligence proves incorrect, whereas four in ten people in the UK felt it still would be.
This has been at the centre of the ongoing argument between the government and the BBC, which reported that the government ‘sexed up’ intelligence information to enhance the case for war. This has since been rejected by a committee inquiry into the allegations, and it continues to be at the centre of a row that has seen the death of a civil servant spark further accusations over spin.
There have been rumours recently that Alistair Campbell, widely perceived to the mastermind behind government spin, is likely to resign in the near future. However, Claire Short, who resigned from the cabinet after the war, has claimed that Tony Blair is the force behind spin, suggesting ‘It is Tony’s way of doing it”.
