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Bush, Blair and the Press
The July 12-18 issue of the British publication THE ECONOMIST featured a cartoon of Tony Blair and George Bush facing fire over the quality of intelligence cited in making the case for war with Iraq. Blair takes all the arrows while President Bush remains unscathed. (View the cartoon.)
Why is the British public and press giving Prime Minister Tony Blair such a hard time over the question of weapons of mass destruction while in front of the American Congress Blair received 17 standing ovations? That's the question Bill Moyers posed to British historians Simon Schama and Niall Ferguson. (Read Tony Blair's address to Congress.)
As common as stereotypes of the British stiff upper lip and unemotional demeanor are, just one viewing of the debates in the House of Commons shows that the British can be quite boisterous and irreverent. They are quite unlike the usual decorous U.S. Congressional hearings.
Even more unlike U.S. practice, is "Prime Minister's Question Time," when the political leader of the nation has to defend his or her policies to the intensive questioning of the House of Commons.
Tony Blair has had quite a rough go during Question Time of late. He's been grilled about the reliability of pre-war intelligence at great length. And opinion polls show that the British public is most angry about the idea that Blair misled their elected leaders in making the case for war.
Tony Blair has only to look back fifty years to find a worrisome precedent. Just months after the end of World War II, Winston Churchill, the backbone of Britain, was unceremoniously dumped from power by a landslide. Time will tell for Tony Blair.
Experience Question Time:
More on the The WMD Debate in Britain
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