Tony Blair Visits the "Late Show"

(CBS)  Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has kept busy in the two years since he's left office.

On Tuesday evening, Blair spoke to "Late Show" host David Letterman about his current projects and shared his opinions on foreign affairs, including the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and the necessity of peace in the Middle East.

Blair, who entered office in 1997 and served as prime minister for 10 years, told Letterman that, in his opinion, the world is safer with Saddam Hussein out of power and that terrorism is a worldwide "menace" that must be stopped.

"These people are going to fight us very hard, indeed. And the real reason it's been difficult in Iraq and is difficult now in Afghanistan is that they are determined by terrorism, and that's how they act - to thwart the wishes of the people there, because both sets of peoples have voted to have a democracy," he said. "And if we don't stand up to them, and recognize that the only way of defeating them is to show greater conviction and determination than them, then I'm afraid we will repeat the mistakes of the past."

After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, he continued, "It was right that my country stood side by side, shoulder to shoulder with America. I thought that then, I think that now and I think that both our countries together have got to unite in order to defeat this menace. And it is a menace, and it's not confined, I'm afraid, to Iraq or Afghanistan. It's worldwide, it's real, and it's got to be defeated."

He also compared the reaction to Scotland's recent release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi and relations with Libya to his experiences negotiating peace in Northern Ireland during his tenure as prime minister.

During those negotiations, he said, "I think the hardest thing I ever did was sit down with the families of the victims of IRA terrorism. And they were good, decent people, and they'd say to me 'How can you sit in the same room with the people responsible for killing my son or my daughter?,' and my answer to that was because I believe if they are prepared to change we can save lives and make peace in the future."

But, he added, "It's an incredibly difficult argument to make to anyone who's actually suffered a loss from terrorism."

Along with discussions of peace negotiations and Middle Eastern conflicts, the two also talked about noticing how his life changed after becoming a private citizen - he got his first cell phone the day after he stepped down - and an interesting record he now holds: he's the first prime minister in 150 years to have a legitimate child while in office.

"Kind of makes you wonder what the other prime ministers were doing," Blair said, eliciting laughter from the audience.

Two years after stepping down, he is now pushing for peace between Israel and the Palestinians - something he believes is "the single most fundamental thing in changing the dynamic" of the Middle East - and is starting his second year teaching at Yale University. He also talked about his faith foundation, a program at Yale that focuses on bringing people of different religions together.

And while he occasionally misses being in office, he is enjoying the new roles he's now able to take on.

"The great thing about ceasing to be in office is you chose your entry," he said. "When you're prime minister, it's whatever comes in. A British prime minister was once asked what the most difficult thing about government, he said 'Events, dear boy. Events.' And when you're actually out of office, you can concentrate on a few things."
By Jessica Derschowitz

[Strappara]

Blair Supporter is disingenuous. Blair was not afraid to embarrass the UK in front of the whole world by allying himself with Bush against the advice of Europe and the UN ? he spoke incessantly of his convictions. I am sure that the Queen would have coped far better with a declaration that he was a Catholic than of war.
Blair was PM not Brown ? the responsibility for stewardship was his as was his failure to intervene if he was aware of problems. He supported the move to de regulate the Banks in one of the worlds major financial centres. The government encouraged banks to make riskier loans & were delighted to have the tax revenues they yielded. The Labour Party received a lot of contributions from financiers.
Under the Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, by occupying Iraq Bush and Blair assumed a duty of care for every Iraqi civilian. By occupying Iraq, Bush and Blair took on the responsibility for protecting civilians against ?all acts of violence or threats thereof? from whatever source, and they have signally failed to do so.
It would have taken Saddam Hussein?s regime hundreds of years to match the carnage produced by Bush and Blair in a few years.
What is absolutely certain is that tens of thousands of Iraqis who are now dead would have been alive if Bush and Blair had left Iraq alone. What is more, the rate of killing has accelerated in recent times. And there is no end in sight.

Blairs expenses files were destroyed by Commons officials after they rejected The Sunday Times?s FOI request in January 2005 to see his claims for £43,029 of public money covering a three-year period.
Blair has been implicated by members of his own cabinet in the death of David Kelly. Indeed recently a group of 13 doctors who believe that Kelly did not commit suicide, but was murdered, are launching a legal campaign to demand an inquest.
Blair was reprimanded formally last year by the UN for his failure to report on his progress as Middle East Envoy. It took him almost 2 years to visit Palestine!
That this man should have been the leader of the the UK should be a source of deep shame.

[BlairSupporter]

Strappara - looks like I am following you around - first Yale, now here:

Strappara is wrong on so much on Tony Blair.

I'll explain why:

CATHOLICISM
The reason he did not change his denomination while in office (NOT his religion actually - he's still a Christian) is that unlike the USA religion and politics do not generally mix. It is the way things are here in Britain. An overtly religious leader would likely NEVER be elected in Britain, whereas in America an overtly open atheist would not be acceptable. But from long before he became prime minister Mr Blair attended mass with his family. Converting to catholicism while still PM might well have been embarrasing for the Queen, who is figurative head of the Church of England. Mr Blair waited until he was out of it to move over. It was because he WAS thinking of others that he waited.

ECONOMY
Gordon Brown, Blair's Finance Minister for 10 years ran the economy, NOT Blair. Brown was as secretive about economic policy as he possibly could be, even to the extent of refusing to inform Blair of financial inititiatives. Blair seriously considered sacking Brown for his selfish attitude to his own power in that important area. This despite Brown having done a generally considered GOOD job as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Don't forget we had almost 10 years of a GOOD economy - all through Blair's time, as it happens.

Britain's economy, like the rest of the world's economies, colllapsed following the American collapse. It was not Blair's doing nor even Brown's.

IRAQ
Tony Blair supported America's attack on Iraq for reasons which I believe were justified and RIGHT. But I do not believe it was an easy decision. We private citizens can criticise those who have to make the decisions ALL we like. WE never had to decide.

IRAQ DEAD
Most of Iraq's dead were killed NOT by foreign troops but by Iraqis and other foreign insurgents. What the deaths in Iraq have shown the world is that there are many, MANY fundamentalists in the Middle East that will kill their own, daily and without pity. WHY? Because they realise that western liberals will blame western leaders and not the REAL killers.

LIES
Blair did not lie to the British people. Nor did he shred documents ?accidentally? weeks before he left office. This is nonsense and put about by his Daily Mail enemies. Those on the Conservative right who never came to terms with the fact that he wasn't one of them AND that they could never defeat him in the polls.

Mr Blair supplied all the expenses asked for by the authorities.

DEATHS of INCONVENIENT CRITICS!!!
Blair is NOT "closely implicated in the deaths of inconvenient critics"!!!

This is libellous and this writer should be should be charged, imho.

DANGEROUS WORLD
The world is NOT a more dangerous place for our children. We have had no terrorist attacks in London since 2005. It is actually SAFER. It is only NOW that we understand what we are faced with. For that we can thank Mr Blair and Mr Bush.

As for the 'grasping nonsense', oh, please grow up and get your nose out of the envious Daily Mail propaganda.

MIDDLE EAST - SUPERMAN?
Nor hs he failed in the Middle East. It has been a region 60 years unsettled. Is Superman Blair supposed to FIX it in TWO? Especially when he is not in a decision-making position?

EU PRESIDENT
Europe could do NO better than have Mr Balir as EU President. If it does happen at last we in Britain will start to understand WHY Europe is important, as will the rest of the world under the presidency of Blair.

BAN BLAIR-BAITING PETITION
This commenter has taken all her cues from the British press. Some of us in Britain are not so easily brainwashed. There is an online petition pushing for a fair hearing for Mr Blair at the Iraq war Inquiry, which has just started.

It is called 'Ban Blair-Baiting'.

This is NOT the Trial of Tony Blair. He hardly needs one. He has already been found 'guilty' by press & public opinion. It is shameful.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/ban-blair-baiting.html

Please sign.

[hennighg]

God. Too bad a real interviewer couldn't be there. Letterman is an ass.

[Strappara]

Tony Blair has shown him self to be shallow, corrupt, self serving and vain. He possesses neither principles nor integrity, even delaying changing his religion in case it affected his position. He presided over the dismantling of the British economy with disastrous and far reaching effects and he invaded Iraq against the wishes of the United Nations again with horrific effect. There have been an estimated 133,977,1 civilian deaths in Iraq since the invasion began (& that?s just the bodies they have been able to count). He has lied to and stolen from the British people ? shredding large quantities of documents ?accidentally? weeks before he left office. He is closely implicated in the deaths of inconvenient critics and he must bear with Bush responsibility for making the world an infinitely more dangerous place for our children.
He and his wife will go down in the history books as dangerous, grasping buffoons along with Mr & Mrs Marcos.
If any more reason is needed not to commit the folly of making him President ? he has failed abysmally in his position as Middle East Envoy ? having been rebuked for failing to report on his progress. He was no doubt too busy holding court in Jerusalem where he occupies an entire floor of the best hotel in town at a cost of £400,000 per year to the British Taxpayer.
Blair for President? Not if we have a vestige of sanity left.

[brianbwb-2009]

Too bad Dave didn't ask him that if he thought it important enough to aid in the lies that precipitated the "wars", whether he now has the courage to take responsibility for the lies, and give that same answer to the families of the dead.

At least the "suicide bombers" have the courage to accept the immediate consequences of their actions, and for that they show more courage and conviction than Blair, or his boyfriend Bush.