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the bereaved relatives of soldiers who

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died in the Iraq War have criticized

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Tony Blair's apology RT UK spoke to

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Roger Bacon whose son major bacon major

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Matthew bacon was killed by a roadside

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bomb in bazra we've known all along that

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the the the uh the the interpretation of

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the intelligence that was given to him

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was was dead dodgy anyway um and

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uh it's long overdue that he should do

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so but it doesn't seem to me that it's a

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it's a fool he's not saying um I'm sorry

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that we went to war and that we ought

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not to have gone to war he's not doing

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that it it it's it's a partial thing

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that certain aspects of it he apologize

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for bad judgment I suppose is what what

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they're saying here um not for the fact

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that he actually wanted to go into Iraq

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in the first place and you and it makes

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you wonder why he had to take himself

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off to America to do it and whether in

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fact um he was in some way coaxed into

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into doing that or suggested that it

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might be a good idea that he did

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it London mayoral candidate George

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Galloway co-directed the killing of Tony

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Blair the documentary film was part of

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his campaign to get Blair tried for war

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crimes in an international Court he

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joins me in the studio George thanks

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very much for joining us you're

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obviously no fan of Tony Blair has he

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won you over with this apology no it's

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not an apology it's a non-apology

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apology it's a btle for the forthcoming

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chilcott report which we must presume

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that sometime in our lifetime is going

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to deliver uh it was a set of weasle

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words but even if it had been an apology

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an apology just doesn't do it you

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apologize if you bump someone's car or

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stand on their toe if you're responsible

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for the deaths of a million people and

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for sending fanatic extremism cascading

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around the world with no end in sight on

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either of those fronts then an apology

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just doesn't do it he has to face

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Justice you mentioned the timing is this

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a preemptive strike before we get some

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uh well he gets some bad news from the

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chil Cott inquiry yes uh it's a

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prebuttal so that we realize that he has

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been listening that he's uh learned a

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thing or two and accepts a thing or two

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for me the only significant thing in

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what he said was his admission could

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hardly do otherwise but he hasn't done

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it before that the rise of isil and

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al-Qaeda in Iraq and Syria is directly

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connected to the decision that bush and

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him made to invade and occupy Iraq

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that's an important admission and it's

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one that should send him to the he well

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before he did absolutely refuse to admit

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fault so this must be a victory of some

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sort and isn't it better late than never

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well it is a victory of some uh kind but

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it's not enough the families that you've

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just been listed to and the Iraqi

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families that we never hear from the 1

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million Iraqi families who lost people

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and the Syrian families hundreds of

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thousands who have indirectly uh been

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victims of uh Blair's hubris and uh the

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wickedness of him and Bush uh ignoring

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the millions who told them not to do

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this I mean it's not that the rest of us

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didn't know we all saw clearly that this

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would not end well and it has ended so C

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catastrophically that frankly the he is

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the best place for him how much

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transparency can we expect from the

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chill cot inquiry well I described it

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when it was appointed I described it in

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Parliament as a parade of establishment

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flunkies and uh the time that they've

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taken and the methods they've used and

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the way they've gone about it has not

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dissuaded me from the initial view

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however the failure of Blair and his

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cohorts is such a a gigantic elephant in

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the room that even chilcott will not be

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able to ignore it so some criticism some

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condemnation will have to uh be

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forthcoming the question is when but do

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you honestly believe Tony Blair could

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ever be tried for war crimes I do I

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might be one of the few who do after all

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his face is the wrong color for a start

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the only people who get tried at the hag

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are black African leaders but I believe

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that if Tony Blair is not a war criminal

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there can be no such thing as a war

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criminal if you deceive the British

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Parliament for more than a year which is

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now clear from the power memorandum he

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did you deceive the queen you deceive

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the Armed Forces you deceive the parents

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of all the soldiers that you send there

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you deceive the public uh and then you

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commit crimes against humanity war

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crimes in the theater itself and the

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outcome is so disastrous well if that if

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you don't get tried for that what can

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you get tried for a million people

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people are now dead George Galloway many

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thanks for joining us