Blair and a dark period in our history

I never subscribed to the belief that Mr Blair lied to the country regarding the Iraq War.

However, I think he was a deluded man far too close to, and anxious to please, President George W Bush and his neocon advisers.

By early March 2002 the decision to invade Iraq had been taken – whatever the Blair government was saying.

United Nations inspectors were still trying to find Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction. The senior inspector Hans Blix had asked for more time but was overruled.

The aftermath of the invasionwas a disaster, and its effects are still being felt.

There is no doubt that Saddam was a monster. But he was the West’s monster for close on 30 years, very useful in the bloody proxy war against Iran.

Mr Blair may be the “worst prime minister ever” along with Anthony Eden. He saw his role as “presidential” and tended to regard his huge parliamentry majority as “voting fodder”.

Mr Bair saw successful interventions in Kosovo and Siera Leone by Britain’s armed forces as an instrument of Britain’s power and influence in the world.

He grossly overestimated his influence with the Americans, who had a different agenda.

A black period in our political history.

Mr Blair once had a penchant for Tuscany. Perhaps he should retire there and write his memoirs. He might spend his time trying to convince anyone prepared to listen that he was right.

H Thomas

The Highlands, Neath Port Talbot

The future could well see EU readmission

THE dishonest Leave campaign may have had a malign influence on the outcome of the referendum but the result has to be respected.

Even though I suspect there are unknown numbers who have now begun to regret voting to bring us out of Europe, there is no going back.

Or is there? One should never say never. The majority of under-25s voted to remain in Europe. When their children come of age, if the long-term results of the present decision prove unpalatable, there is no reason why another referendum should not be held, seeking readmission to what by then might well be a reformed, more democratic institution.

I will not live to see the light at the end of this long tunnel but I hope my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be able to choose to join hands with our European neighbours.

Dennis Sellwood,

Caerphilly

Crackdown on Welsh is linguistic fascism

In his letter (Western Mail, July 5) Dai Woosnam states: “My wife and I escaped linguistic fascism and became asylum-seekers in England.”

I’ve never come across such an outrageously hostile and bigoted comment from an ostensibly intelligent man about the minuscule promotion of the Welsh language in Wales during the last 50 years or so.

Until then the legal position of Welsh in Wales was governed by two laws: the first of the so-called Acts of Union (1536/1543) and WE Foster’s Education Act (1870). A major aim of both was to destroy the language. They have almost succeeded, to Mr Woosnam’s delight, I’m sure.

The 1536 Act states “no person or persons that use the Welsh language shall have or enjoy any manner of office or fees within this realm of England, Wales or other of the King’s dominion upon pain of forfeiting the same office or fees, unless he or they use and exercise the English speech or tongue”.

A primary purpose of the 1870 Act was to convert the people of Wales to monoglot English-speakers by banning the Welsh language from all schools on pain of physical punishment. Children were mocked, scorned, made to feel guilty and punished, not for any wrongdoing, but for speaking their mother tongue – the only language of about two-thirds of them! My paternal grandparents (born in 1867 and 1874) informed me several times that they had suffered many times from this barbaric policy that made the Welsh language an outcast in its own country.

Now that’s what you call “linguistic fascism”! Indeed, the vast majority of schools in Wales today (English-medium ones) are still producing monolingual English- speakers, essentially complying with the intention of the 1870 Act.

I have never been able to fathom the advantages of being monolingual as opposed to being bilingual (or multilingual). Now that he has fled from the tyrannical talons of the Welsh language by gaining asylum in monolingual Grimsby, perhaps Mr Woosnam could enlighten me.

Gwyn Hopkins,

Llangennech, Llanelli

Poles and Czechs came to our rescue

After the referendum result, there has been Brexit rejoicing – no more Eastern Europeans. May I point out to these people that in 1940 35,000 Polish servicemen arrived here after escaping from Nazi clutches.

Two-hundred-and-thirty pilots from Poland and Czechoslovakia fought in the Battle of Britain, earning high praise for their professionalism, with the Polish squadrons achieving the highest number of enemy aircraft destroyed. Where would we be today but for those 230 members of “The Few”?

After the war tens of thousands of these ex-servicemen were unable to return home as they would have been persecuted. Their countries were in the hands of Stalin,another ruthless dictator.

Many who escaped from Eastern Europe were welcomed with open arms, with an additional flow in 1956 when tens of thousands of Hungarians fled the country after they “tried to get their country back” from dictatorship. These European countries were grateful for the generosity of the UK in their time of need, as we were grateful to them in our time of need.

As they build their economies in the future all that goodwill which has been fostered over the last 70 years will be frittered away.

In Prague Cathedral there is a side chapel with a book of remembrance with the names of the men who died in the service of the RAF. Need I say more?

Arfon Evans

Caerhun, Bangor, Gwynedd

Keep nuclear arms away from terrorists

Like many, I supported the Iraq War on human rights grounds after reading the “not-so-dodgy dossier” from the Foreign Office – I even won some university debates as a result.

After seeing what has happened in Iraq, Libya and Syria, I would today oppose it on human rights grounds.

What should be learned from the Chilcot Inquiry is that military action can reduce the security of a country, even one headed by a dictator. The inquiry criticised the failure to consider that if WMDs did exist, then a war could result in them being lost to terrorists.

Theresa May now stresses renewing Trident. At the same time she should look at how nuclear technology can be kept out of the hands of dictators and terrorists, including by expanding Nato so no one country can press the button unilaterally.

ISIS benefited from the chaos in Iraq, the inquiry found. The wider lesson is that WMDs should be secured so they are inoperable without codes that can only be acquired when there is an agreed risk of immediate danger.

Jonathan Bishop,

Pontypridd, Wales

If abuse upsets you, don’t dish it out

Charlotte CHURCH is shocked by the abuse she has recieved after tweeting “I want my f*****g European Union back, you piece of s***!” after Nigel Farage resigned saying he wanted his “life back”.

While I wholeheartedly condemn anyone making threats, her original tweet is hardly gentle. If you can’t take abuse, do not instigate it.

Besides, more than 50% of Wales did not want her EU. Her anger should not be levelled at those who voted to leave or maneuvered to give people the vote, but toward the political establishment of Wales who have so badly let down the people of Wales (UK) that there was a feeling of hopelessness as things were.

Now that we are leaving, why not use your celebrity status to be positive about the future rather than hurling abuse on Twitter and complaining when it is returned.

Dave Henderson

Banwen, Neath