“Let me ask you one question. Is your money that good? Will it buy you forgiveness? Do you think that it could?” (Bob Dylan, b: 1941.)
Figures just obtained by
the BBC under a Freedom of Information request, show that last year the
UK Home Office identified nearly one hundred suspected war criminals,
the majority of cases believed to be already having been living in the
UK for a number of years. (i)
Suspects are believed to have come from a wide range of countries
including Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Rwanda, Serbia and Sri Lanka.
The Home Office, which is responsible for immigration and border
control, is making robust noises and is determined Britain does not
become “a refuge for war criminals.”
Four Rwandan men arrested in May this year are: “ suspected of
involvement in the 1994 genocide that led to the deaths of an estimated
800,000 people.”
James Smith of Aegis, a charity involved in the prevention of crimes
against humanity is quoted as saying: “If we don’t pursue those
prosecutions, the UK could become known as a retirement home for war
criminals.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “Anyone accused of these crimes should
be put on trial in their home country and we will always seek to return
them to face justice.”
In the light of the Home Office statement, it has to be asked if the
relevant powers will finally be taking an equally robust stance towards
former Prime Minister Tony Blair for the illegal invasion of Iraq.
Further, will action also be taken against his Foreign Secretary
Jack Straw, his Attorney General Lord Goldsmith – who changed his legal
advice that invading Iraq would be illegal, to deciding it was legal
under alleged pressure from Blair. The then Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Gordon Brown who obediently wrote the cheques, for Iraq’s decimation
should certainly also be on the list, as Geoff Hoon, the then Defence
Minister.
The invasion, occupation and destruction of near all of Iraq’s
historical and social structure was based on untruths and dodgy dossiers
emanating from Blair’s offices and Cabinet Offices, and has resulted in
perhaps one and a half million deaths – and ongoing.
Or do suspected war criminals only get counted if they are black,
Middle Eastern, East European, or from further afield, whilst ours
travel the globe with impunity?
“There’s a cost and it is difficult to investigate crimes which took
place in another country a long time ago. But if we don’t pursue those
prosecutions, the UK could become known as a retirement home for war
criminals”, said. James Smith of Aegis. There should be no such problem
with Tony Blair, he has seven homes in the UK., several in central
London and large offices next to the US Embassy.
The other suspects are equally accessible and can even sometimes be found in Parliament.
Beatha Uwazaninka, who survived Rwandan genocide, said the thought of
meeting a Rwandan war criminal “living happily ever after” in the UK
caused her “great pain.”.“It is very sad especially for survivors who
have gone through so much and yet there is no justice,” she told the
BBC. She speaks for Iraqis and also for the millions in Britain and
around the world who campaigned, demonstrated, contacted their elected
representatives, recognizing the lies, who watch Anthony Charles Lynton
Blair, QC., traversing the globe, arriving to red carpet treatment and
making millions as Iraqis still die: over four thousand in violence
since the beginning of this year, one thousand in May and already eight
hundred in this Ramadan month. (ii)
There will surely be many involved with Iraq who will surely be
watching closely that the Home Office and the Police service indeed
ensure that Britain does no longer becomes: “a retirement home for war
criminals.”
Notes
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