Tony Blair: Syria a different case

Tony Blair, in an exclusive one-on-one interview with British TV network ITV, aired his views and opinions on the deteriorating situation in Syria. Blair, controversial in his dealings with the Arab and Muslim-speaking world, both during and after his premiership, stopped short of calling for military intervention in the Libyan mould or regime change, but did emphasise, as western and Gulf nations have stated, that all options should be kept on the table if Assad continues his killings. This, it can be noted, follows Blair’s political policies of subtly warning that the carrot is disappearing swiftly and the stick could be all that remains to deal with. One can recall similarities in his message and the famous Blair-Bush foreign policy adventures in which he used rhetoric to warn nations that change was in their best interest or else suffer the consequences for failing to do so. Even though Blair is no longer the British Prime Minister and, it can be argued, not as vociferous in his opinions and statements, there were glimpses of the old PM Blair in his interview, producing familiar phrases such as "all options should remain open." A particular interesting question was thrown at Blair by Austin who asked him: “If you were Prime Minister now, would you be looking to get involved in Syria? To intervene militarily in Syria? Blair's response was reminiscent of his style of subtly, but forcefully getting his message out.  “We have got to treat each case on its merits and with its own circumstances. So, I think Syria is again a different case but having said that we should always understand that if we are not active in this situation and we just allow it to develop in this case, as Assad wants it to develop in Syria, we know what will happen." "Already thousands of people have died and many thousands more will die. So these are decisions, when you intervene, it’s always important to recognise if you intervene there will be consequences, some of which are unpredictable and adverse and if you don’t the consequences actually are more predictable and probably very adverse also”. When asked whether more could be done, Blair trod a cautious line, one that was in keeping with the UK government's position. He replied “I think the government is doing all it can do at this point in time, but I think we should keep all options open. In particular, what is very important is that we carry on sending a very strong message to Assad and the Syrian regime that this is not something where they can just roll over the people and then we are going to say ok let's just forget about it. No, we will be there and be active in support of the Syrian people who want freedom and want the chance to elect their government”. Blair chose his words carefully but one could see glimses of his old  foreign policy rhetoric that did much to shape the map of the Middle East and beyond during his controversial era in the UK’s hot seat.