The Economist publishes my criticism of former British prime minister Tony Blair

The Economist‘s May 31st issue contained an article titled “What I’ve learned” by Tony Blair in which he “reflects on the lessons of his decade as Britain’s prime minister.”

A few days ago The Economist printed my letter in response to Blair’s piece on its website (scroll down to the last letter):

SIR–

Tony Blair lays out evidence for Iran’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as Al-Qaeda’s having been “in Iraq before Saddam’s fall”. It’s unfortunate that Mr. Blair’s credibility is such that my immediate reaction was to wonder if he was exaggerating. Notably, Mr. Blair did not reflect on the need for accuracy and honesty in dealings with the public.

Mr. Blair goes on to write “terrorism recruits adherents on the basis of an appeal to human emotion”. How do accounts of yellow cake purchases in Niger and Mr Hussein being 45 minutes away from unleashing weapons of mass destruction differ from the terrorists’ tactic? It’s unfortunate that none of Mr. Blair’s reflections pertained to the need for world leaders to be honest and forthright when advocating a course of action—especially when making the case for war. Inflated, or “sexed up”, claims cause a loss of credibility which, in turn, can mean future threats go unheeded. And leaders who exaggerate these threats see their potential wasted and legacies tarnished.

Zach Everson
Washington, DC

(Please note the punctuation, notably putting commas and periods outside of the quotation marks, follows the standards for British English.)

Speaking the English

This afternoon I went to the post office to mail The Columbia Poetry Review, a Moleskine notebook (I love mine), and a book about selling poems to my friend in Iraq. I’d packaged them in an Amazon.com box I had lying around my apartment. I’d crossed off the company’s name on the sides of the box, but by the time I got to the post office the ink had dried and Amazon.com was visible.

When the woman behind the counter saw it, she told me that I needed to be more thorough next time. The words on the package could confuse a foreigner working in the Army mail room because “they don’t speak the English that good.”

An editor-cum-soldier in a hospital basement in Baghdad

SPC Sean Blue went to college with me at Wake Forest University—we worked together at the school paper, the Old Gold & Black (he was the sports editor). Unfortunately when Sean graduated (three years after I did), the job market wasn’t good and he enlisted in the Army.

A few weeks ago he was in Kuwait on his way back to the United States after spending 50 weeks in Iraq when President George W. Bush signed an executive order indefinitely extending his deployment. Now he is in Baghdad, living in the basement of a hospital, and the mess hall is running low on food.

His blog has some interesting insight on the situation in Iraq.