Where are the arch war criminals now? No.1: Tony Blair
How is UK war criminal Tony Blair doing these days? Before answering that question, let's consider the legacy left to Iraq by Blair, and his partner in war crimes George Bush, in the six years since they unleashed their war of "shock and awe".
•Over 1 million Iraqis killed;
•4.5 million Iraqis displaced from their homes -- more than half of them as refugees -- that's one sixth of the population;
•More than 60 percent of households have no access to clean water;
•40 percent of children in Basra and 70 percent in Baghdad do not attend school;
•5 million children are orphans;
•About one in five children are thought to be chronically malnourished.
Looking at the scale of human suffering listed here, many will hope that the Iraq war inquiry -- will go some way towards holding Tony Blair to account for the lies and deception with which he took Britain into an illegal and unjustified war.
So what is Blair doing today? We can discount his role as an invisible "peace envoy" to the Middle East, and his Tony Blair Faith Foundation "to promote interfaith respect and understanding", both of which were always beyond ridicule.
But renewed interest in Blair's other "occupations" has surfaced recently because JP Morgan -- the bank that pays Blair one million pounds a year for one day's work a month -- is being investigated by the City's watchdog, the Financial Services Authority, for allegedly playing fast and loose with $8.5 billion of its clients' money, by using it to speculate in currencies, shares and commodities.
Eyebrows raised
Eyebrows were raised when Blair took a job with JP Morgan because the firm is heavily involved in Iraq and it leads a consortium which is expected to make billions out of contracts awarded by George Bush, which will enable it to profit from the devastation created by the Bush-Blair war, through what, for Iraqis, is laughably called "reconstruction".
Blair's one million is small change to JP Morgan. Last year, more than 200 of its employees received at least £1.8 million and the top four earners received a total of nearly £45 million between them.
But Blair is aiming to exceed even those top earners. Some estimates say he is well on the way to accumulating £40 million. How is he doing this?
Let's start with what the British people are giving him through their taxes. Blair gets from us £64,000 a year as his Prime Minister's pension, which will be doubled when he's 65 by his MP's pension. We give him a further £90,000 a year towards the cost of his office. So before long we'll be paying him over £200,000 annually.
Now we get into the serious money. Blair got a £5 million advance for his memoirs. The financial services group Zurich and the Kuwati government both give him unknown -- but no doubt substantial -- amounts for a few days a year of "advice" and "guidance".
Blair's biggest earner
This is all relative peanuts next to Blair's biggest earner. He is the highest paid speaker in the world, who you won't get for less than £100,000. If you're a rich consortium in the Philippines, he will cost you £180,000 for 30 minutes, which is what he was paid earlier this year. Twice.
Not content with this vast income, Blair is now angling to be President of the European Union, which brings with it an annual salary of £200,000, accumulating to a neat one million over the five year term of office.
Meanwhile Cherie Blair is no sluggard when it comes to her contribution to the family coffers. She's rumoured to have received a £300,000 advance for her memoirs and she's also for hire as a speaker at around £30,000 for half an hour or so.
These figures are probably dwarfed by Mrs. Blair's earnings as a barrister. She won't be receiving less than quarter of a million a year and some estimates of her earning potential are closer to one million annually.
Will the Iraq inquiry help bring Blair to his just desserts, which are surely nothing less than arraignment for initiating a war of aggression, specified by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg after World War II as: "not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole"?
Or will he carry on taking "blood money", as Reg Keys -- whose soldier son Tom was killed in Iraq in 2003 -- described Blair's JP Morgan job. It's a description which could be applied to all Blair's earnings since he stepped down (or in truth was pushed) from office?
Looking at the composition of the panel for the Iraq Inquiry and the very limited objectives it has set for its investigations -- with no provision for exacting evidence under oath or for apportioning blame for the catastrophic war -- there's probably little point in holding our breath as to the outcome.
