Tony Blair: Mubarak 'Immensely Courageous And A Force For Good'

Tony Blair took an adversarial stance this week by defending Egypt's autocratic president as "immensely courageous, and a force for good."

According to the Guardian, the former British prime minister drew attention to Hosni Mubarak's role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process during a Feb. 1 appearance on Piers Morgan's CNN program. He went on to note that Western governments would be best served by backing Mubarak, despite the ongoing series of increasingly deadly protests throughout Egypt.

"Where you stand on him depends on whether you've worked with him from the outside or on the inside. I've worked with him on the Middle East peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians so this is somebody I'm constantly in contact with and working with and on that issue, I have to say, he's been immensely courageous and a force for good," he said.

"Inside Egypt, and I have many Egyptian friends, it's clear that there's been a huge desire for change. I don't think the West should be the slightest bit embarrassed about the fact that it's been working with Mubarak over the peace process but at the same time it's been urging change in Egypt," he said.

Though Blair acknowledged that political change was coming to Egypt, he warned against rushing into elections.

"I don't think there's a majority for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. On the other hand, what you've got to watch is that they are extremely well-organized and well-funded whereas those people who are out on the street at the moment, many of them will be extremely well-intentioned people but they're not organized in political parties yet. So one of the issues in the transition is to give time for those political parties to get themselves properly organized," he said.

"People want a different system of government. They're going to get it. The question is what emerges from that. In particular I think the key challenge for us is how do we help partner this process of change and help manage it in such a way that what comes out of it is open minded, fair, democratic government," he said.

Comments

[JimSteel]

08:15 PM on 02/08/2011

Yes, your perspective is probably dependent on where you are living. If, unlike Tony Blair, you are living in Egypt, and have been subject to systematic repression and impoverishment for over 30 years while your leader accumulated one of the largest personal fortunes on the planet your perspective probably is not that "Mubarak is courageous and a force for good."

This exposes the sickening level of hypocrisy displayed by Blair and the complete falsity of his frequently expressed claim to be guided by moral values. When it came to justifying the invasion of Iraq, (or any Western military intervention) we would be subjected to platitudes about democracy and how the West had a "right" to invade other countries if Western governments decide that it is best. However, when it comes to a real popular revolution against a dictator that Blair supports, suddenly his love of democracy disappears, to be replaced by a concern that the future government might not serve Israeli or Western interests as much as the current government.

[tompoe]

11:55 AM on 02/05/2011

Blair is a war criminal.

[RubalKhali]

07:19 AM on 02/04/2011

Mine is the first generation able to contemplate the possibility that we may live our entire lives without going to war or sending our children to war.
Tony Blair quote

[UncleJimbo]

01:59 AM on 02/04/2011

This guy was on track to be the Greatest British PM since Churchill......And Now look at him!.....A Phoney,Corporate,N W 0 Shill ..... Bush poisoned everything and everyone he touched!

[Wozzeck]

12:34 AM on 02/04/2011

George Galloway on Blair and the other British war criminals who colluded with Bush.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtN_gkb9EPs

[RubalKhali]

07:08 AM on 02/04/2011

I loved Galloway testifying in Congress.

[nogimmicks]

12:25 AM on 02/04/2011

Mr Blair.. the crook who forced the UK into a deadly war by fabricating the the fake weapons of mass destruction argument, .. what did he say now? Whatever it is, probably the opposite is true.

[RubalKhali]

07:10 AM on 02/04/2011

"And I simply say to you that the British intelligence services are amongst the best and finest in the world, and the idea that Saddam Hussein has for 12 years been obstructing the UN weapons and inspectors, has been engaged in this huge battle with the international community, when all the way along he had actually destroyed these weapons, is completely absurd... As I say, I think it would be useful if we waited until we actually got the full evidence before us. But I would point out to you, we already have, according to our experts, two mobile biological weapons facilities (more) that were almost certainly part, according to our intelligence, of a whole set of those facilities. We have a situation where I don't think there is any doubt in anybody's mind that Saddam Hussein accumulated these weapons, indeed he used the weapons against his own people. And I have no doubt at all, as I said to you earlier, that the assessments that were made by the British intelligence services will turn out to be correct."

[vicshak]

12:06 AM on 02/04/2011

"couarageous & a force for good", like sending thugs to violently disrupt peaceful protest for democracy, shutting down the internet, rounding up journalists...BLAIR IS AN ASS!!!

[Marcusarilius]

11:55 PM on 02/03/2011

Rriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Force for good huh? Is this that whole Good is Bad, and Bad is Good thing?

[vascopyjama]

11:02 PM on 02/03/2011

I heard he has just been given an honorary seat in Congress.

[Wozzeck]

12:23 AM on 02/04/2011

Perhaps the Knesset, too.

[wowme]

10:48 PM on 02/03/2011

If he loves him so much then he should make him the king of uk

[MIVOTE]

10:13 PM on 02/03/2011

He sounds like someone that consider GW a friend.

[uneeda]

10:10 PM on 02/03/2011

this guy Blair is divorced from reality

[Firehorsegirl]

09:43 PM on 02/03/2011

Blair makes me want to vomit -- I can only recall his mindless support of the Iraq invasion. Anything he says is so very suspect.

[oldguru]

09:42 PM on 02/03/2011

Says the man who joined George Bush in bringing disaster to Iraq.

[duxguts]

09:30 PM on 02/03/2011

Blair will do anything for money. He should be charged with soliciting.