E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

September's here again, and the long war on terror that began in September 2001 may be drawing to a close - or not.  The past decade has been indelibly marked by several actors on the world stage, and it seems oddly fitting (if a little too neat) that Tony Blair 's memoirs, and the cessation of the American occupation of Iraq, should coincide precisely.  Blair's book confesses to utter anguish, and full-metal resolve - a complex and unlikely admixture - over his decision to invade Iraq; and continues the war by other means against his hapless lieutenant, Gordon Brown , now described as "maddening" and with "zero emotional intelligence". Blair, it seems, was a political animal, shackled to a human handler - all-too-human.  I find it hard to fathom Blair's leap to Catholicism when the Pope was against the war he essentially green-lit, and I tend to find his creepy bonhomie skin-crawling.  Yet, apparently, he was eminently electable.  Why people shou...

The legacy of the Bush-Blair years, and the post-9/11 madness, is never far from the surface of things - as much as Cameron or Obama might wish.  This weekend there were calls for an inquiry into the death of Dr Kelly , the weapons expert whose whistle blowing cast doubt on some of the dodgy dossier claims pre-war - conspiracy theory has it he was not a suicide.  The ongoing debate about the situating of a mosque proximate to the hallowed ground zero is another open sore - and a sign of the intolerance levels in America, a place barely healed by the election of its first African-American president.  Now, Tony Blair - the man second-most-responsible for what deputy PM Nick Clegg has called an illegal war - is to donate all the money from his memoirs to a rehabilitation gym for wounded soldiers.  This is admirable.  A pity it is much too little too late.  However, we must forgive Mr Blair, insofar as he seems to be seeking penance.  I am not sure we ...

Nick Clegg , Deputy PM, stood at the disptach box yesterday for Prime Minister's Questions and called the Iraq War "illegal" - something I have been writing (and saying in print) since 2003.  This is an odd moment.  Yesterday the ex-head of MI5 said much the same thing.  It appears that the cracks in the Establishment are showing.  However, Clegg has backtracked - since most Tories supported the war, and Cameron - he can hardly do otherwise and remain in government.  Still, it was a glorious slip of the tongue.  Will time tell the truth?  Will Tony Blair ever face the justice meted out to Saddam ?

Gordon Brown has today confirmed that he believes the Iraq war was "right". Eyewear is of the opinion that Mr. Brown is wrong, and that said war was illegal, under international law, and an act of aggression; at the very least, it was deeply problematic and complex. The certainty that Blair and Brown brought and bring to this subject is troubling. Mr. Brown should be voted out of office at the coming election, if for no other reason than his position with regards to the 2003 invasion.