Blair speech

Tony Blair gave a lengthy speech today to defend his government's foreign policy over the last 9 years (full text, and commentary).
It left me more furious than I have been since the invasion was launched 3 years ago, and as those who had the misfortune of being around me at that time will readily tell you, that was pretty furious.
Instead of writing a long piece about it which no one will read, I wrote a short letter to the Guardian which perhaps many people will read, if they publish it. But they might not, so here it is:

Amidst Tony Blair's despicable misrepresentations and fabrications concerning his government's foreign policy record, (Matthew Tempest, "Blair sees Iraq as 'clash about civilisation,'" Guardian Unlimited, March 21) the question of democracy stands out. Blair is surely correct that "victory for democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan is a vital element" is crucial, but he is misleading about what stands in the way of such a victory. As the editors of the Financial Times noted one year ago, the elections then being held in Iraq took place only at the "insistence of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who vetoed three schemes by the US-led occupation authorities to shelve or dilute them" ("Winds of change in the Middle East: Call for careful reflection about causes and not triumphalism," Financial Times March 5, 2005, p. 10). "Why does Iran meddle so furiously in the stability of Iraq?" Mr. Blair asks? A more pertinent question for him, and for us, is: why does Britain?