Tutu calls on Blair to admit mistakes
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu last night called on Tony Blair and George Bush to admit they were mistaken about the “counterproductive and immoral” war in Iraq.
Delivering the Longford Lecture to a receptive audience at Church House in Westminster, the Emeritus Archbishop of Cape Town said the war proved it was illusory to believe “force and brutality” led inexorably to greater global security.
The Nobel peace prize winner questioned the “dangerously flawed” intelligence reports the US and her allies used to justify the military assault on Iraq.
“An immoral war was thus waged and the world is a great deal less safe than before,” he said. “There are many more who resent the powerful who can throw their weight about so callously and with so much impunity.”
“We see here on a global scale the same illusion that force and brutality can produce security as we note at national and communal levels that harsh sentences and being tough on crime necessarily make our neighbourhoods safer.”
Calling on politicians to reflect on their fallibility, he argued: “How wonderful if politicians could bring themselves to admit that they are only fallible human creatures and not God, and thus by definition can make mistakes. Unfortunately they seem to think that such an admission is a sign of weakness.
“President Bush and Prime Minister Blair would recover considerable credibility and respect if they were able to say: ‘Yes, we made a mistake’.”
His lecture entitled “The truth and reconciliation process – restorative justice” received two standing ovations.
