Bring Blair to justice

Stop the War Coalition and CND slammed the "monumental disgrace" of the "bloody and illegal" war and demanded Mr Blair be brought to justice.

Two million people took to the streets on February 15 2003 to oppose the war in the largest protests Britain has ever seen.

The war in Iraq lasted six years and led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians.

A decade on Britain remains bogged down in the quagmire of Afghanistan and the so-called war on terror has expanded to encompass Libya, Syria and now Mali.

Stop the War Coalition, CND and others plan to mark the coming anniversary with a series of events, the first being a major conference in London on Saturday.

Stop the War convener Lindsey German told the Star: "My feeling is that Tony Blair should be in the Hague.

"It is a matter of basic justice that the person who launched the war and who has continued to thrive should be held accountable.

"We have had cover-up after cover-up and lie and lie. Tony Blair has enriched himself since leaving office and continues to hold the position of Middle East peace envoy, whose only role has been to back up military intervention."

She described the decision to go ahead with the invasion against the will of the people as a "terrible failing of democratic politics" and said no government should ever be allowed to do the same again.

CND general secretary Kate Hudson said the scale of the 2003 march had been "breathtaking."

"Not only were the numbers astonishing, even to us as organisers, but the demographic was a remarkable cross-section of society, unifying against the terrible, deceitful, drumbeat of war.

"And it is a monumental disgrace that the government refused to listen to the will of the people.

"Instead they pressed ahead with a bloody and illegal war which has killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and was premised on a lie.

"Tony Blair has evaded justice and eschewed responsibility for his actions."

Saturday's Ten Years On conference is being billed as one of the most important anti-war events of the last few years.

Among those scheduled to address the meeting at Friends House are Tony Benn, Tariq Ali, Jeremny Corbyn MP, Lindsey German, Kate Hudson and, by video link, Noam Chomsky.

Next Friday, February 15, a protest will be held at 5.30pm opposite Downing Street to demand Western countries stay out of Syria and the wider Middle East and Africa.