Just after he refused to participate in a leadership event in South Africa due to the former UK PM’s presence, Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called for Tony Blair and former US President George W. Bush to be tried at an international court.
In an article printed in the British paper Observer, the Nobel Peace Prize recipient wrote that both Blair and Bush had knowingly committed crimes of aggression when they launched an invasion against Iraq in 2003.
“Those responsible should be treading the same path as some of their African and Asian peers who have been made to answer for their actions in The Hague,” said Tutu.
Tutu also went on to blame the Middle East’s difficulties on the invasion of Iraq and said that the military action has divided the world more than “any other conflict in history”.
“The then leaders of the US and Britain fabricated the grounds to behave like playground bullies and drive us further apart. They have driven us to the edge of a precipice where we now stand — with the spectre of Syria and Iran before us,” Tutu added.
Desmond Tutu anxiously continued with the claim that the former leaders lied about weapons of mass destruction.
“Even greater costs have been exacted beyond the killing fields in the hardened hearts and minds of members of the human family across the world,” he writes.
“The Archbishop is of the view that Mr Blair’s decision to support the US military invasion of Iraq, on the basis of unproven allegations of the existence in Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, was morally indefensible,” said Roger Friedman, a spokesman for Archbishop Tutu.
Desmond Tutu, as an Archbishop, is known for his respect towards stances that many religious groups despise and he remains one of the world’s most philosophical and peaceful living individuals.
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