What began as an ordinary Friday night for a barman at an upscale London steakhouse ended on a more dramatic note after former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair entered the establishment.
Twiggy Garcia, a barman at London’s trendy Tramshed, apparently
thinks about much more than just mixing cocktails.
Ever since visiting a website devoted to arresting Blair, Garcia
said he has “fantasized” about making a citizen’s arrest
against the former premier for “crimes against peace” in
Iraq.
“I had been waiting for the opportunity after seeing the
website arrestblair.org, and it just so happened we were in the
same place at the same time,” Garcia explained to the
Independent, a British daily. “I believe Blair is responsible
for the mass murder of Iraqi civilians after taking our country
into an illegal war.”
The website offers a reward of 8,500 pounds to anyone who can
“arrest” Blair.
Garcia explained how his “heart rate increased” when he
learned of Blair’s “eerie presence” in the restaurant,
before he saw his opportunity to arrest the former Labour leader.
“[Blair] was sitting at the head of a table upstairs with
about eight other people eating dinner. I think he was out with
his family and a few friends,” Garcia said. “I went over
to him, put my hand on his shoulder and said, ‘Mr. Blair, this is
a citizen’s arrest for a crime against peace, namely your
decision to launch an unprovoked war against Iraq. I am inviting
you to accompany me to a police station to answer the charge.’”
Blair, 60, who earned the nickname ‘Teflon Tony’ for his uncanny
ability to deflect criticism, performed some verbal gymnastics on
the bartender as he twisted the discussion to the situation in
Syria, where a years-long civil war continues unabated.
Garcia said Blair “kept changing the subject and talking
about Syria” before advising him, “I think you should be
more concerned about Syria.”
“I didn’t expect him to start debating with me. I think he
actually believed the lies that were coming out of his
mouth.”
At this point, Garcia realized the debate was coming to an end
when one of Blair’s sons “went to get the plain-clothes
security from downstairs.”
“I decided to get out of there sharpish... I quit my job there
and then,” Garcia explained.
A spokesman for the former PM told the Independent, “There is
nothing to report here apart from the fact that Mr. Blair did
offer to discuss the issue. That offer was declined and the
individual walked off. Nothing else happened. Everyone is fine
and they had a great time.”
Twiggy Garcia is the fifth person to have made an attempt to
arrest Tony Blair, who is now serving as a Middle East peace
envoy.
“It will keep people from forgetting he is a war
criminal,” the bartender said, explaining his motivation to
attempt a citizen's arrest on the British statesman. “I hope
one day he faces his charges in The Hague. People seem to think
those laws only apply to Nazis and African warlords.”
Tony Blair continues to be hounded publicly by activists who say
he is to blame for the hundreds of thousands of deaths caused by
the war in Iraq, which is still suffering violence today
following a nearly nine-year military operation begun by the US
military in March 2003.
Critics of Blair’s decision to join the United States in the
military campaign against Iraq point to the so-called Downing
Street Memo, a record of a meeting in July 2002 between British
intelligence and the office of Tony Blair that some say is the
'smoking gun' that proves the former premier followed Washington
into war despite bad intelligence.
The memo, quoting Sir Richard Dearlove, director of the UK’s
foreign intelligence, revealed that Bush wanted to remove Saddam
Hussein, through military force, “justified by the
conjunction of terrorism and WMD.”
However, “intelligence and facts were being fixed around the
policy.”
Then-Foreign Secretary Jack Straw informed Blair that “the
case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbors, and his
WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or
Iran.” Straw then suggested that “we should work up a
plan” to produce “legal justification for the use of
force.”
Today, one of the many tragic consequences of the war in Iraq,
which has transformed into a sectarian battle between Shia and
Sunni militants, not to mention outside terrorist forces with
ties to Al-Qaeda, has been an unstoppable wave of violence that
continues to leave thousands of innocent victims in its wake.