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 Tony Blair is despised and discredited at home, hated across the world, 
 and the Arab street condemns him. Appointing him peace envoy to the 
 region he warred against is a galling insult to its people, all others 
 of conscience and all humanity. Nonetheless, he has the job and started 
 off on his last day in office June 27 telling his Parliament: "The 
 absolute priority is to try to give effect to what is now the consensus 
 across the international community - that the only way of bringing 
 stability and peace to the Middle East is a two-state solution." 
  
 The London Independent's veteran Middle East correspondent, Robert 
 Fisk, summed up the feelings of many in his article dated June 23 
 titled: "How can Blair possibly be given this job?" He began it saying 
 "I suppose that astonishment is not the word for it. Stupefaction comes 
 to mind. I simply could not believe my ears in Beirut (where Fisk is 
 based) when a phone call told me that Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara (where 
 British forces were defeated by the Ottomans in WW I) was going to 
 create 'Palestine.' " Fisk continued calling Blair "vain, deceitful, a 
 proven liar, a trumped up lawyer (with) the blood of thousands of Arab 
 (people) on his hands." 
  
 He'll not be welcomed or aided with a brief constricting him within 
 vaguely stated areas of Palestinian governance, economics and security 
 rather than letting him take on the entire range of issues causing the 
 Israeli - Palestinian conflict. Unstated is what his real mission is 
 that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert set straight by calling Mr. 
 Blair "A true friend of the State of Israel." Israeli foreign minister 
 Tzipi Livni added: "Tony Blair is a very well-appreciated figure in 
 Israel," and an official Israeli government statement said Blair "will 
 (be) provide(d) with all necessary assistance in order for him to carry 
 out his duties." 
  
 Indeed he will, and it's to support Israeli interests by denying 
 Palestinians theirs. Governance means by the illegitimate Fatah; 
 economics is funding it with weapons and materials against Hamas as 
 well as propping it up financially; and security is by hard line street 
 enforcement and continued conflict aimed at routing the elected 
 government and installing a quisling one over the entire Occupied 
 Palestinian Territories (OPT). 
  
 Tony Blair is the right man for the wrong job and the wrong man for the 
 kind of job he should be sent to do. He has no interest in peace and a 
 long sordid record of contempt for Palestinian rights and justice from 
 his committed one-sided support for Israel. His job is to further the 
 concocted "clash of civilizations" against "heathen Arab terrorists" 
 blaming the victims for crimes he helped commit against them. He feigns 
 helping Palestinians by allying with Fatah's traitorous Mahmoud Abbas 
 in the West Bank while continuing to condemn and marginalize the 
 democratically elected Hamas government in Gaza. 
  
 Abbas conspired with Israel and the US going back to Olso or earlier. 
 He partnered with his western-supported paramilitary warlord muscleman, 
 Mohammed Dahlan, for war on Hamas hoping to unseat it violently but 
 failed. He then brazenly dismissed the legitimate Hamas government June 
 17, appointing an illegitmate "emergency" quisling one in its place. 
 He's its president and western darling and former World Bank and IMF 
 official Salam Fayyad was made prime minister. Writer and editor Rami 
 Khoury calls it a "government of the imagination." He also said 
 "Appointing....Blair....is something like appointing Emperor Nero to be 
 the chief fireman of Rome," and add to that the notion of having the 
 fox look after the henhouse. 
  
 He's mandated to back Fatah in its role as Israel's enforcer and deny 
 Palestinians any chance for freedom, equity and justice. Tony Blair 
 will go to the region in a limited subservient role for Israel and the 
 US. He's to play frontman shoring up support for Abbas, Fayyad, and 
 Dahlan, work against the interests of the legitimate Palestinian 
 government and its people, and leave the heavy lifting undermining 
 efforts to Washington and Jerusalem. He's going in spite of being 
 totally discredited in the region by people who despise him. He did 
 nothing for them nor will he ever, yet this arrogant man claims he's 
 going to bring real peace to the region. 
  
 Fisk refers to "His unique blend of ruthlessness and dishonesty." The 
 Arab street understands and despises him for it, but his agenda "go(es) 
 down quite well with our local Arab dictators." Fisk refers to his 
 "slippery use of language....with appeals for restraint on all 
 sides....and moderation" while backing what US State Department 
 spokesman Sean McCormack characterizes as a "well-governed state." 
 That's one with hard line street enforcement and what Fisk calls "lots 
 of (tough) 'terror laws.' " 
  
 It's a perfect setup for repressive rule, denying Palestinians all 
 civil and human rights doing it. Blair's the right frontman - from war 
 criminal to street enforcer in the name of peace he has contempt for. 
 The irony is galling. Applied to him, it's "Beyond (the kind of) 
 Chutzpah" Middle East expert Norman Finkelstein wrote about in his book 
 by that title. Watch for him later to be nominated for a Nobel Peace 
 Prize for his "efforts." If it gets it, he'll join the ugly ranks of 
 past war criminal honorees like Henry Kissinger, Menachem Begin, Shimon 
 Perez, Yitzhak Rabin, and Kofi Annan in a pathetic weak-kneed 
 supporting role. Mr. Blair will fit right in. 
  
                             * * * 
  
 Back Home in London, It's Business As Usual: 
 Scaring the Public Twice Over 
  
 Episode number one: 
  
 On his second day in office, new British prime minister Gordon Brown 
 "was thrust into a new terrorism alert" as the New York Times claimed 
 June 29. London police claimed they found two Mercedes Benz cars 
 "filled with (a significant quantity of) gasoline and nails and a 
 number of gas canisters parked close together in an area known for 
 packed night-clubs and late-night bars," according to the Times. Police 
 also claimed they found and defused an "explosive device" in the area 
 overnight. At once and with no evidence, Al-Queda was named suspect 
 number one, heightened by claims that had these bombs detonated they 
 would have caused great harm. Peter Clark, Britain's most senior 
 counterterrorism police officer, said "there could have been 
 significant injury or loss of life." 
  
 So what to do? Round up the usual kinds of suspects and pin it on them, 
 Muslim ones, of course. The New York Times reported July 2 
 "investigations (were) moving (ahead) at breakneck speed, the police 
 expanded their hunt on Sunday (July 1) for the (London and Glasgow) 
 'plotters'....the British government called the work of terrorists 
 linked to Al-Queda. Officers raided homes in three cities" bringing the 
 total number apprehended to five (plus three more since). "Police said 
 they had recovered a 'rich trove' of evidence" but presented none 
 beyond claiming earlier to have found gasoline, canisters and nails, 
 hardly the makings of a major terror attack. 
  
 Front and center Gordon Brown beginning to earn his bona fides saying 
 "As the police and security services have said on so many occasions, we 
 face a serious and continuous threat to our security. (This incident 
 shows) the need for us to be vigilant at all times and the public to be 
 alert at any potential incidents." Sounding much like George Bush and 
  
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 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)