Blair keeping the faith

I'm not a particular fan of Tony Blair, another modern, "3rd-way" pseudo-socialist politician, but on this, I agree with him completely.

Former prime minister Tony Blair said Friday he had no regrets about removing Saddam Hussein after delivering a robust defence of the 2003 invasion of Iraq at a public inquiry into the war.

Rounding off his day-long evidence session, Blair said he accepted "responsibility but not a regret for removing Saddam," insisting the Iraqi leader was a "monster" who had "threatened not just the region but the world."

The thing is, for all of the "Bush lied, people died" nonsense that's followed, there was no serious doubt anywhere in early 2003 that Saddam Hussein had WMD programs. Bush knew, the British knew it, the French and Russians knew it - everyone knew it. We still don't know to what extent the weapons were moved or hidden or non-existent, but there wasn't anyone making a compelling case that they didn't exist before the war.

And, on a related topic, where are all of the "Bush is going to war for his oil buddies" people now? How'd that work out for you?