Blair Answering Chilcot (April24)

The rawness and haggard emotion was appropriate. Performance and inner conviction inseparable. A seemingly false memory—something that pre-dated the conversion in fact—had him the son of a lay preacher of some description. The accomplished, captivating presentation throughout the career always returned the hint. One recalled his advice to some notable—it may have been one of Murdoch's foot soldiers taking the rap for the boss: advised by Tony to make sure she got a good night's sleep before the ordeal confronting, for which quality sleeping pills were essential. One recalled the christening of Rupert's girls to tigress Wendy on the banks of River Jordan, wardrobe fitting the host in white gowns and Tony doubtless upstaging the professional actor, the Australian pretender Nicole, in his role of godfather... So far as psycho-drama went, you would have to say difficult to resist the man’s plea for understanding of his predicament in the run-up to the invasion shortly after the planes hit. The choking was proper, sharply delineated, without deflecting from the purpose. Sorrow, anguish or remorse, heavy conscience in attestable form; self-justification carefully modulated. Man could not in all conscience, &etc. If one wanted to be picky, there was perhaps a single moment, one troubling instant at 1:11 secs; for the remainder all the matter was given in due and appropriate measure, movement and progress sure-footed. The tragic results were substantial: there were so many British forces killed, so many injured... One hundred and fifty something British servicemen & personnel losing their lives; the injured a sizeable number (precise figures unavailable). Following upon which came the slide to the other side, the Iraqi component. One needed to return to the video more than once in order to judge properly and watch the entire forty-seven plus minutes. If one could give it musical notation, the point might emerge more clearly, the falling, descending note where Iraqi casualties were included at the end in that brief summary of devastation, at 1:11. Did he mention one hundred thousand in one of the subsequent, follow-up interviews; the radio possibly. When most estimates were tens of thousands more and possibly many tens of thousands again? In this first media presentation answering Chilcot, where he was preoccupied with the battle of good & evil, precise figures were a lesser matter. Before an Arab or Mid-East audience, where the man often found himself seeking absolution, no doubt better care would have been taken over that.