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In the news: Big mouths and oxymorons

June 23, 2002 ~ 3:12 a.m.

Well now, this news is a few days old, but I still want to have my say �

The British Prime Minister�s wife, �the First Lady of Great Britain,� Cherie Blair, has been running her mouth off faster than her son Ewan can drive a car. I don�t know if Lady Thatcher left some sort of aura hanging about the confines of 10 Downing St., but unfortunately, it only influenced Mrs. Blair with her outspokenness but not her common sense.

Last week, Mrs. Blair created a controversy when she attacked President Bush over matters regarding the International Criminal Court. As usual, America is one of only a very few countries displaying prudence when it comes to signing potentially flawed treaties. The International Criminal Court is the judicial equivalent of the Kyoto Treaty. Dubya has refused to join it because he believes the treaty to have cracks in its foundation and would bind the U.S. to matters regarding international justice that would contradict American policy. Whatever your stance on American policies, this is an understandable cautionary measure for any nation concerned with its sovereignty to take, no? But of course, to a woman whose husband can�t move Britain into a dangerous European superstate fast enough, sovereignty is of little concern. Power is more important instead. Blair style.

Mrs. High-and-Mighty�s concern is that by refusing to sign the treaty, Dubya is curtailing efforts to administer justice to tyrants and war criminals. (Again, Mrs. Blair, if you�re so concerned about tyrants, I ask you, have looked at your husband lately?) Cherie�s argument is that sixty-seven countries can�t be wrong, so the U.S. should have the sense to back the pact straightaway. But lest we forget, the Prime Minister�s wife is a human-rights lawyer. No wonder she automatically demands allegiance to this ICC treaty. Join first, ask questions later. Blair style.

"The impact of the US failure to support the ICC may be symbolically important - a high-profile rejection of a major initiative for the rule of law in international affairs. But it will also be a lost opportunity if a state with a longstanding commitment to human rights does not take a lead in shaping the work of the world's first international criminal court,� Mrs. High-and-Mighty said during her attack mode. Oh, great, just what we need. Another world�s first something-or-other. The United Nations isn�t enough, the Kyoto Treaty isn�t enough, GATT isn�t enough. Now America must prove its stupidity by being forced to sign the ICC.

Think you�ve heard enough to satisfy your curiosity about Cherie? Wait! It gets better, trust me.

After a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 19 people, ten of which deaths were children, on a bus in Jerusalem last Tuesday, Mrs. Blair�s response was, �As long as young people feel they have got no hope but to blow themselves up you are never going to make progress.�

To have ignorance � or possibly even blatant anti-Semitism � emanating from Downing Street is bad enough. But not to even mention the consequences of someone as high profile as the ambitious wife of a world leader taking sides during a time when peace in the Middle East has never been so pressing. Many in Parliament were appalled at Mrs. Blair�s words and actions. Her actions included the hosting of a �500,000 charity appeal for Medical Aid for Palestinians with Queen Rania of Jordan. (Any wonder why it�s a Jordanian heading a Palestinian charity? Because Palestinians are Jordanians. Jordan is the Palestinian state, after all.)

Now here�s the real clicker: Cherie had a spokeswoman apologize for the remark for her. The official Downing Street issued the following statement: �If any offence has been taken from the interpretation of her comments then Mrs Blair is obviously sorry.� Obviously sorry? Wait a damn minute here � Mrs. High-and-Mighty can go shooting her mouth off about these poor Palestinians blowing themselves up and stopping just one centimeter short of proclaiming solidarity with the suicide bombers, but she can�t issue her own statement, through her own bloody gob, expressing chagrin at such outrageous remarks? I am at pains to think of an apology any less obvious than that.

Mrs. Blair even showed up her own husband Tony and his government, who, in the words of The Evening Standard, �have been at pains to condemn all terrorist violence and to maintain an even-handed stance towards Israel and the Palestinians.� Congratulations, Cherie, you managed to almost completely undo all that hard negotiating work with just twenty-three haughtily issued words.

As any reasonably educated person knows, an oxymoron is a phrase that makes one laugh through the sheer inanity and otherworldly quality about it. Or, as my copy of The Collins Gem English Dictionary describes it, it�s a figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory ideas. Truthful politician, polite Frenchman, and intelligent Yankees fan are all good examples.

But I�d like to add one more example:

Tactful Cherie Blair

� M.E.M.

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