Tony Blair and sanctions

Interesting to see that former Prime minister Tony Blair was awarded a medal and an award of one hundred thousand dollars for his work for peace. Even more interesting to see him pushing for the lifting of the sanction on Gaza. I don’t know if he has seen the light and made a complete turn around in his life. Perhaps he did learn something from the blundering mistakes he has made in the past. He vigorously supported the murderous sanctions on the Iraqi people for many years…sanctions that he was well aware were causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children.(A fact well reported and documented by many groups doing work in Iraq for many years).
He supported the war on Iraq, which resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent civilians.
His government stopped a large load of humanitarian supplies bound for Iraq during the sanctions. The shipment wasn’t simply blocked. All the items were taken out of the containers and carefully closed. It was only when the people taking the aid to the Iraqi people got to Baghdad that they noticed that the containers carrying food and medicines had been mostly emptied.
He has also been a huge supporter of the war in Afghanistan even though it has been clear from day one that it could only become a quagmire and a battle that could not be won no matter how many young men and women you put in harms way.
I keep wondering if perhaps Blair has changed. I know that after the bombing of Gaza his face showed that he was in complete shock after inspecting the crumpled ruins and civilian deaths. I thought that he looked like a broken man in shock. Perhaps he realized for the first time the complete destruction that bombs do to people. I know that I was completely shattered after I ventured into the blackened, metal twisted interior of the Ameriyah bomb shelter in Baghdad. It really is hard to grasp the ripping violence of weapons of mass destruction until you witness the destruction with your own eyes. The expression on Tony Blairs face made me think that he must have felt that same way when he toured the aftermath in Gaza.
I am encouraged to believe that he might have changed. I hope so. On the one hand I wish he was harder on Israel. One side of me wants Mr. Blair to speak out more forcefully against Israel for the carnage that they caused through the bombings and for forcing the Palestinian people into a steel cage… through the punishing sanctions. But …. blame would not do much good. Perhaps the best one can hope for is that people like Blair…who hold some level of power where it counts …. can change and become more compassionate for other human beings.