Ban Blair baiting

Bear-baiting, whereby a tethered bear was attacked by a pack of dogs, was outlawed in this country in 1835. It is now time to stop BLAIR-baiting, i.e. attacks on our former Prime Minister by the dogs of anti-war. Less metaphorically it can be defined as the constant incitement of hatred against Tony Blair for taking us to war in Iraq

With this in mind a small group of concerned citizens started up an online petition to give expression to those who share our views on this matter

WHO IS SIGNING THE PETITION

The petition, calling for fair treatment of Tony Blair and fair reporting of the Iraq inquiry, is attracting signatures from people all over the world (including Iraq, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia) who are appalled by the abuse that is being directed at our former Prime Minister and who are sick and tired of those who have found him guilty of various crimes before the inquiry has considered all the evidence, far less reached any conclusions.

Here’s a typical comment from Birmingham “I believe that Tony Blair has been taunted and terrorized enough over the Iraq war. I want to see it end.” And from Bulgaria, “Mr Blair you are a true leader, you have stepped forth when all others have stepped back.” A longer selection of like-minded comments can be found in John Rentoul’s post “We few, we happy few”

In that piece Mr Rentoul, the chief political commentator at the Independent on Sunday describes the petition as “a brave venture, which was always about quality rather than numbers.”

Prominent signatories include Lord George Foulkes, John Rentoul, chief political commentator at the Independent on Sunday, Oliver Kamm, leader writer and columnist at the Times, Stephen Pollard, editor of the Jewish Chronicle, Tom Harris MP, Paul Trippett and John Burton from Tony Blair’s former Sedgefield constituency, Hopi Sen, a leading political blogger and Jessica Asato, acting Director of the Labour pressure group, Progress. Nick Cohen has also expressed his support.

AIMS OF THE PETITION

Starting a debate

Firstly, the petition is intended to start a debate about how Tony Blair is being treated with regard to this inquiry and how its proceedings are being reported in the media. John Rentoul has already picked up on this in his ”Iraq Inquiry Coverage Rebuttal Service”.

We can understand that, as our former Prime Minister, Mr Blair is considered by some to have much to answer for over Iraq. And thus we appreciate that this inquiry has its place. What we cannot accept, however, is the attempt by those who have made up their minds in advance, to turn the inquiry into an Iran-type show trial. (note the hostile demonstration outside the Conference Centre when Tony Blair gave his testimony and and George Monbiot’s scurrilous piece in the Guardian headed “ Wanted:Tony Blair for war crimes. Arrest him and claim your reward”)

Countering the expected anti-Blair bias

Another aim of the petition and this website, is to form the basis of a campaign to counter the anti-Blair activity that is taking place over the period of the inquiry.

Our concern is that media coverage of this activity and media competition to lay a killer blow on Mr Blair when evidence is taken at the inquiry will taint any outcome in his favour and even make it unacceptable as was the case with previous inquiries. Another concern, prompted by Sir John Chilcot’s efforts to reassure the public that the inquiry will not be a whitewash, is that the inquiry will turn into a BLACKwash i.e. an OVER-critical verdict on the UK’s part in the war in order to demonstrate that it is NOT a whitewash.

In sum, the simple message of the petition and the campaign is that Blair-baiting should play no part in the Iraq inquiry. And it opens up a much wider and hugely important issue about the role of the media in matters of this sort.

RECENT ACTIVITY

A full page ad conveying the message of the campaign was placed in the New Statesman and a related article was posted at New Statesman Blogs. A four-screen moving version of the ad can be found at the website of the Press Gazette http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/, which is visited by most journalists in this country.

CAMPAIGN CONTACTS

Coordinator: Stan Rosenthal

Spokesman: John Rentoul

:You can contact us by emailing here
(Please note that any offensive emails will be deleted so don't waste your time!)

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