Archbishop Tutu declares war!

 31^st August what a day to recall meeting up as arranged with Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Little did I know he was to have just snubbed Tony Blair the day previous. But it was for no reason I had wanted to meet Desmond Tutu an octogenarian who has accomplished more than a lifetime’s work for peace – for me it was to be in the presence of a living saint!

  

Is this for real meeting this great man!

Visiting South Africa some six years previous it felt a very different place. A young country by democratic and civil rights with much still to address – but one could not underestimate what had been achieved!

Of course we all know the name Desmond Tutu – nobel peace prize winner!

Just occasionally, we have great leaders & prophets with a message for our times - Desmond Tutu is just so! Tony Blair however,  I have always had a deep suspicion of! Saddened,  I was upon my return from South Africa to see a champion of mine Canon Giles Fraser taking issue with ++Tutu.

For me Archbishop Tutu was able to speak collectively for those of us  with no voice (such as myself) and  who were given to taking to the streets (and those of us who wanted to and couldn't at the time - thru circumstances) - against crimes (actions) that were done in 'our' name.

The late Lord Bingham was pretty robust on the illegality of the Iraq invasion in his book "Rule of Law". However whether there is a case in law against Blair, he has become pretty morally repellant over his unwavering public insistence that the half a million deaths later the war was still right!

When Nixon was being considered for "high crimes and misdemeanors" at the time of Watergate the indictment on illegal war (against Cambodia) failed. Almost 50 years later it seems war is an area that national leaders can still pursue with impunity! It remains an indictment that today international law is not effective in dealing with such cases.

But I feel there is a case to be answered... Which is why I for one, was not was not in the least surprised that Mr. Blair  seemingly disappeared off the world  stage so quickly and more especially quietly and perhaps to a safe haven! I bet he thought that there were questions to be answered. And this remains the case!

At the time the written advice of the Attorney General, flatly warned Blair and the inner cabinet that the legal case for going ahead based on the first UN resolution was very weak indeed, hence all the energy and effort that went into securing a new one. Charlie Falconer knew this argument well enough last Sunday on Radio 4, yet proceeded on the basis that UN Resolution 1441 was sufficient. There are plans in the air to make waging an aggressive war a crime under the ICC but they have not been approved yet. If they are, they will not come into force until a year or so after 30 nations have ratified them. And they won't apply retrospectively, to Blair or Nixon. So Tutu is to my mind keeping it to the fore of our minds that change is needed!