the bereaved relatives of soldiers who
died in the Iraq War have criticized
Tony Blair's apology RT UK spoke to
Roger Bacon whose son major bacon major
Matthew bacon was killed by a roadside
bomb in bazra we've known all along that
the the the uh the the interpretation of
the intelligence that was given to him
was was dead dodgy anyway um and
uh it's long overdue that he should do
so but it doesn't seem to me that it's a
it's a fool he's not saying um I'm sorry
that we went to war and that we ought
not to have gone to war he's not doing
that it it it's it's a partial thing
that certain aspects of it he apologize
for bad judgment I suppose is what what
they're saying here um not for the fact
that he actually wanted to go into Iraq
in the first place and you and it makes
you wonder why he had to take himself
off to America to do it and whether in
fact um he was in some way coaxed into
into doing that or suggested that it
might be a good idea that he did
it London mayoral candidate George
Galloway co-directed the killing of Tony
Blair the documentary film was part of
his campaign to get Blair tried for war
crimes in an international Court he
joins me in the studio George thanks
very much for joining us you're
obviously no fan of Tony Blair has he
won you over with this apology no it's
not an apology it's a non-apology
apology it's a btle for the forthcoming
chilcott report which we must presume
that sometime in our lifetime is going
to deliver uh it was a set of weasle
words but even if it had been an apology
an apology just doesn't do it you
apologize if you bump someone's car or
stand on their toe if you're responsible
for the deaths of a million people and
for sending fanatic extremism cascading
around the world with no end in sight on
either of those fronts then an apology
just doesn't do it he has to face
Justice you mentioned the timing is this
a preemptive strike before we get some
uh well he gets some bad news from the
chil Cott inquiry yes uh it's a
prebuttal so that we realize that he has
been listening that he's uh learned a
thing or two and accepts a thing or two
for me the only significant thing in
what he said was his admission could
hardly do otherwise but he hasn't done
it before that the rise of isil and
al-Qaeda in Iraq and Syria is directly
connected to the decision that bush and
him made to invade and occupy Iraq
that's an important admission and it's
one that should send him to the he well
before he did absolutely refuse to admit
fault so this must be a victory of some
sort and isn't it better late than never
well it is a victory of some uh kind but
it's not enough the families that you've
just been listed to and the Iraqi
families that we never hear from the 1
million Iraqi families who lost people
and the Syrian families hundreds of
thousands who have indirectly uh been
victims of uh Blair's hubris and uh the
wickedness of him and Bush uh ignoring
the millions who told them not to do
this I mean it's not that the rest of us
didn't know we all saw clearly that this
would not end well and it has ended so C
catastrophically that frankly the he is
the best place for him how much
transparency can we expect from the
chill cot inquiry well I described it
when it was appointed I described it in
Parliament as a parade of establishment
flunkies and uh the time that they've
taken and the methods they've used and
the way they've gone about it has not
dissuaded me from the initial view
however the failure of Blair and his
cohorts is such a a gigantic elephant in
the room that even chilcott will not be
able to ignore it so some criticism some
condemnation will have to uh be
forthcoming the question is when but do
you honestly believe Tony Blair could
ever be tried for war crimes I do I
might be one of the few who do after all
his face is the wrong color for a start
the only people who get tried at the hag
are black African leaders but I believe
that if Tony Blair is not a war criminal
there can be no such thing as a war
criminal if you deceive the British
Parliament for more than a year which is
now clear from the power memorandum he
did you deceive the queen you deceive
the Armed Forces you deceive the parents
of all the soldiers that you send there
you deceive the public uh and then you
commit crimes against humanity war
crimes in the theater itself and the
outcome is so disastrous well if that if
you don't get tried for that what can
you get tried for a million people
people are now dead George Galloway many
thanks for joining us