Tony Blair

The Chilcott enquiry (I think that's what its called)is under way into the war on Iraq, and yesterday was Tony Blair's big day in the spotlight. I only saw a minute or so of the footage during which Tony was his old self, smirk to some, good humoured smile to others. Firm, decisive hand waving, understated suit. Everything he should be. What I call a total tosser. The BBC reporter said that before he went in Tony looked gaunt and drawn and was as nervous as he'd ever seen him and even went so far to say that he looked scared. I must admit when he spoke I didn't really listen to what Tony was saying during the news item, being more fascinated by all the showmanship that went with it.
I'm not a great political animal, well at least I don't read a lot about politics or watch it on TV mainly because I believe that all writers, reporters and commentators, particularly in the BBC, are either incompetent or morally void and are all missing the point anyway, but I have vaguely seen a succession of lawyers, advisers and civil servants testifying that they told the government (aka Blair)that the war was illegal only to be ignored, threatened or blackmailed into changing their opinions. And now Tony the great showman is stating that he has no regrets and would do it all again.
Which makes me think of those words -no regrets. What sort of person can say they have no regrets. Lets start from the basis that we have all of us done things that are wrong at some time in our life. This may be things that are legally wrong, or morally wrong, or have hurt someone close to us or have offended our own internal code (what us professionals call our conscience)or all of these.
It seems to me that no regrets" is saying one of two things.
1)"I have never done anything wrong" Well I suppose its possible but surely very, very unlikely
2) "I have done things wrong, but would not change them and would do it again." What is this actually saying? I've tried looking at it from all angles but its still nonsense. If they have broken the law they are saying they would do it again, if they have behaved immorally they are saying they would do it again,if they have hurt someone with words or actions they are saying they would do it again and if they have offended their own conscience they are saying they would do it again. The first three would indicate some sort of recidivist psychopathic tendencies, the last would indicate someone doomed to live their life a neurotic wreck.
I suppose there is
3) I have done things wrong and would not do them again but I have no regrets about doing them. No-one will ever persuade me that this makes any sort of sense. This is only possible if one distorts the definition of the word "regret" to mean "to pig-headedly refuse to acknowledge one's faults and imperfections."
There is another explanation behind the words "no regrets." This involves looking at what "I regret" actually means. It is not the same as "I'm sorry" which is a personal thing, relating to a deed we have perpetrated or enabled. For example during an argument we might insult someone. When the dust has setlled "I'm sorry" expresses our sorrow at hurting or offending the other party and hopefully shows a determination to never do it again because we think enough of them to not want to hurt them. If however we say "I regret saying that" it is not quite the same thing. It does not show any apology or sincere feelings. If anything it seems to hint more at the fact that we are acknowledging that the words may cause problems (unspecified)in the future. So what does "regret" mean? I can't be arsed to look it up in a dictionary and anyway that's cheating, but I suspect it would say "to express remorse." Great. What does remorse mean? My own feeling, and after many seconds of thinking about it I'm sure of this, is that "I regret" means "I acknowledge it would have been better if this had not happened" it does not even necessarily have to be something we have done ourself. We could say "I regret that your train was late" for example. It is an impersonal thing relating to expressing a wish that an event had not happened, it does not make the recipient of the news feel better beyond seeing the "regretee" admitting a fault. "I'm sorry" on the other hand, if sincere, denotes something quite different. It expresses a wish that the other party had not been hurt, damaged, offended by an event. It feels much nicer when someone says "I'm sorry" than "I regret" and conversely it feels nice when we have hurt someone to actually say "I'm sorry" and restore a friendship or relationship.
All of this brings me back to Tony Blair. He should not have been asked do you have any regrets, rather he should have been asked a specific question, "are you sorry that you started a war?" His answer to this may have offered some relief to the families of all of those who were killed or maimed during his deceitful crusade.