He's writing about the grave danger posed by a nuclear armed Iran. Feel free to read it in context but I've extracted the salient point here.
It is argued that the decision to invade the wrong country has made our situation intolerably worse. Iran was always the bigger threat. While we were chasing phantom nuclear weapons in Mesopotamia, next door Iran was busy building real ones. Now we are enfeebled, militarily and politically, our diplomatic tools blunted beyond repair by the errors in Iraq.Baker does acknowledge that the point made above concerning Iraq is valid. But it's in the past and is, in his view, a debate for the birds.
[I]t is important for all of us to understand that this debate is now for the birds. All that matters now is what we do.
Here's a facetious, not directly comparible, but illustrative example of that principle in action elsewhere:
Yes, this boy racer did carelessly plough his Impreza SRI into a crowd of pedestrians. All that matters now is what he does with his brand new new Impreza WRX.It beggars belief, really it does. Take away his license, FFS.
To summarise Baker's position:
Yes, Blair has made a monumenal error in attacking Iraq. Yes, Blair has enfeebled our ability to deal with the Iranian nuclear issue. Yes, this is potentially a far greater threat than anything Saddam was likely to pose at any point in the foreseeable future. And yes, Blair should still be the one who decides what we do next in the face of this potentially very serious threat.
Sorry, the world doesn't work that way. Blair has shown himself to be woefully inadequate in his ability to be the guardian of the national security of this country. The idea that he'll be deciding what we do about Iran's nuclear programme genuinely sends shivers down my spine. It is simply not acceptable.
Tags: News, Politics, Iraq, Iran, Tony Blair
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