Nasrin,
I am with you. In the beginning, when he fought the occupation in Najaf, I thought highly of him. I thought that he could be a second Nasrallah. But later I changed my mind.
There is no comparison between him and Nasrallah. Sadr is a narrow-minded sectarian whose Mahdi Army has been involved in sectarian killings. Nasrallah is by far more educated, intelligent and has a vision of uniting Muslims and Arabs against the occupiers.
Hopefully, the events in Lebanon will embarrass the Shiites in Iraq who are puppets of the US and encourage the bulk of the nationalistic Arab Shiites in Iraq to fight the real enemy occupying them, rather than fellow Iraqis who are fighting the occupation.
http://www.newstatesman.com/200608070017
The above is a good analysis of Blair's attitude to this war, by a long-time critic of the Bliar. According to him, the bliar is not only going along with Israel's aggression, but was in fact given advance notice of it.
Irish Eyes,
Good article; thanks for posting. The bottom line is that after all the noises coming from the cabinet, the MP's and the Labour party, nothing ever changes. After all the lies about Iraq, we were told that Blair was finished, and there he is now defending and cheerleading Israeli war crimes as bad or worse than those in Iraq.
Therefore, Arabs and others around the world are right to hold, not just Blair, but all the British people responsible for the bloody policies of this man. Is it not a democracy, supposedly?
This is exactly what I heard Kampfner say on Sky News a few days ago. He said that he had spoken to lots of Labour MPs who 'privately' - and anonymously - told him that they were dismayed at Blair's support for US/Israel. However, it is manifestly clear that they will not risk their careers by making their feelings known in public, much less resigning. As he and you rightly say, as elected officials it is their DUTY to, at the very least, publically protest a policy they are in disagreement with. Otherwise they are complicit. Simple as that.
That said, I wouldn't go as far as to hold the entire British people responsible for this: polls have consistently shown a clear majority of the public oppose Blair's policy here. Also, anti-war protests have attracted large numbers on the streets.
BTW I highly recommend Kampfner's book "Blair's Wars". He has a very low opinion of the Bliar, and this book will show you why.
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