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Via John Rentoul's unmissable site, I came across this petition, which of course has to be signed by all decent folk:
We, the undersigned agree that Blair-baiting should NOT be allowed to
prejudice the outcome of the Iraq war inquiry. We therefore call upon
the media and other interested parties to refrain from such activity
for the duration of the inquiry.
As the organisers write:
Bear-baiting, whereby a tethered bear was attacked by a pack of dogs,
was outlawed in this country in 1835. It is now time to stop
BLAIR-baiting, i.e. attacks on our former Prime Minister by the dogs of
anti-war. Less metaphorically it can be defined as the constant
incitement of hatred against Tony Blair for taking us to war in Iraq.This year's Blair-baiting season will reach its peak when the Iraq war
inquiry starts to call witnesses. Parts of the media, the anti-Iraq war
lobby and some families of soldiers killed in the war are already
calling for this to be a TRIAL of Tony Blair with a view to gathering
as much evidence as possible to send him to The Hague for "war crimes".
Except that unlike a normal trial, Tony Blair has been presumed guilty
in advance.The organisers of this petition do not belong to any one party but are
united in our belief in "innocent until proved guilty" and that Mr
Blair should be given a fair hearing at the inquiry. To this end we
demand that if the Blair-baiters want to turn the inquiry into a trial
they should follow the same rules as a trial and not be allowed to make
any public comment on the proceedings until they are over.Please show your support for Tony Blair through this period of "trial"
by signing this petition. If you would like to be more actively
involved in the campaign associated with it could you please leave your
contact details in the "contact author" box that accompanies this
petition.