Rageh Omaarさんが久しぶりに英国のテレビ番組に現れた。2003-2004年、彼はBBCのイラクレポーターとして世界中の注目を集めた(Our man in Baghdad)。サダムフセインを「追いつめて」行く、米国、英国の軍隊を追い、ある種の熱狂の中にいた彼は、大量破壊兵器がなかったことが明らかになる頃からピタリと活動を止めた。
その後、アフリカのレポートやアルジャジ―ラでの活動のあと、ITVのレポーターになったようだ。ソマリアに生まれ英国で学び仕事をし、矛盾の中に生きた彼は、今、困難な状況にあっても”英国の良心”を見せた Chilcot Reportの発表に合わせ、わずか1分半ながら、彼にとってのちに大きな負担と後悔の日々を生み（と私は考えている）、そしてそこから学んだこととして今視聴者に伝えたいことを語ったように思う。
映像：Rageh Omaar Discussion
”I think Iraq is unique beyond some of the other wars we’ve fought recently – Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, some of them much bigger- because I think it taught us the most profound and most painful lessons that history can teach you. That might is not always right, that power does not always confer wisdom and that sometimes, the best role that an ally can play to one’s closest allies is to tell them the truth and not to go through with action. It will haunt us, and continue to do, for many years.”
★ちょうど英国ヨーク大学にいた私は、イラク戦争について政治学のレポートを書く必要がある立場にいて、とりわけ印象深い。
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Chilcot report: Six key things we learned
- UK joined invasion ‘before peaceful options had been exhausted’
Tony Blair ordered the invasion of Iraq before “peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted”, and at a time when Saddam Hussein posed “no imminent threat”.
“Military action at that time was not a last resort,” Sir John concluded.
- Blair wrote to Bush
Nine months before the invasion in July 2002, Blair wrote to US President George W Bush to say: “I will be with you through whatever”.
But there was no support for Blair critics’ claim that he agreed a deal “signed in blood” to topple Saddam with Bush in April 2002.
Tony Blair is also said to have “overestimated his ability to influence US decisions on Iraq”.
(レポート・ダイジェストはこちら）
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Bushに追随しイラク戦争に加担した英国、Tony Blairの苦悩は深い。
英国の 新聞論調
英国にあらがえなかったブレアの立場を擁護するような論調もある。ただ、それによって自分の立場を守ろうとしているのではない、と誰が言えるだろう。
＜下＞ 同じ人のインタビュー記事なのに切り取り方で印象が違うのが面白い。
Former ambassador: US ‘pushed’ Blair into Iraq War
Sir Jeremy Greenstock, former UK ambassador to the UN. Credit: PA
The former UK ambassador to the UN in 2003 has said that he believed Tony Blair felt “pushed” into going to war by the Americans.
I felt that at the time, the British felt it at the time, I think the prime minister felt it at the time, that the Americans pushed us into going into military action too early.
SIR JEREMY GREENSTOCK, UK AMBASSADOR TO THE UN IN 2003
Speaking to the BBC Sir Jeremy added that the former prime minister had wanted a UN resolution backing military intervention in Iraq, but that senior US officials thought it was a “waste of time”.
Last updated Thu 7 Jul 2016
翻って日本を見ると、反省どころか正式な調査さえしていない。