Will He Make Money From Our Dead Soldiers?

Before the Iraq war I thought Tony Blair had some courage and integrity because of the British support after the attacks of 9/11. Of course, we are very close allies. But when he went along with George Bush and the war of aggression when he knew it was wrong - we know that because of the Downing Street memos - he showed that he was as avaricious as the Bush administration.

I believe that Blair was used as much as Colin Powell was - for his integrity. I believe he gave a lot of credibility to the lies of the Bush administration in the eyes of the rest of the world.

He could have said to Parliament: "This is a bunch of baloney, it's lies - they are drawing up these false reasons for war." Why did Blair not say, "Enough - this will be an unmitigated disaster and it has to be stopped"?

If Tony Blair goes into a consultancy with a company that does war profiteering, I think it will be deplorable. Going on the speaking circuit would be making money from our dead soldiers and the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis.

As regards the Congressional Gold Medal, Blair must have got it when Republicans were in control of Congress. Second, it further diminishes what medals mean in our country. I mean, George Bush gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to George Tenet, the former director of Central Intelligence, and Tommy Franks, former head of Central Command.

For all of these "honourable" people, their lies and their treasonous pre-meditated war, my son, and hundreds of thousands of others are dead or wounded. A country is being destroyed on a daily basis and "BushCo" is still free to commit their crimes against humanity. It might show a tiny bit of integrity for Tony Blair not to receive his medal.

Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan who was KIA in Iraq on 04/04/04. She is a co-founder and President of Gold Star Families for Peace and the author of two books: Not One More Mother's Child and Dear President Bush.

(c) 2007 The Independent