Retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu now wants George W. Bush and Tony Blair to face trial at the International Criminal Court because of the Iraq War’s “immorality” and their “lies” about weapons of mass destruction.

Last week Tutu refused to appear at a conference because Blair would also be there, though not at the same time.

In a Sunday British newspaper op-ed, Tutu denounced Blair and Bush as “playground bullies” whose Iraq invasion had “destabilised and polarised the world to a greater extent than any other conflict in history.”

Tutu asked: “On what grounds do we decide that Robert Mugabe should go the International Criminal Court, Tony Blair should join the international speakers’ circuit, bin Laden should be assassinated, but Iraq should be invaded, not because it possesses weapons of mass destruction, as Mr Bush’s chief supporter, Mr Blair, confessed last week, but in order to get rid of Saddam Hussein?”

Although admitting Saddam Hussein was a “despotic and murderous leader,” Tutu avoids elaborating and offers no alternatives to his removal by Western force. He cites 110,000 Iraqis killed in war but not the many more Saddam killed during supposed peace.

Blair has responded:

“I have a great respect for Archbishop Tutu’s fight against apartheid – where we were on the same side of the argument – but to repeat the old canard that we lied about the intelligence is completely wrong as every single independent analysis of the evidence has shown.

“And to say that the fact that Saddam massacred hundreds of thousands of his citizens is irrelevant to the morality of removing him is bizarre. We have just had the memorials both of the Halabja massacre where thousands of people were murdered in one day by Saddam’s use of chemical weapons; and that of the Iran-Iraq war where casualties numbered up to a million including many killed by chemical weapons. In addition his slaughter of his political opponents, the treatment of the Marsh Arabs and the systematic torture of his people make the case for removing him morally strong. But the basis of action was as stated at the time.

“In short this is the same argument we have had many times with nothing new to say. But surely in a healthy democracy people can agree to disagree. I would also point out that, despite the problems, Iraq today has an economy three times or more in size with child mortality rate cut by a third of what it was. And with investment hugely increased in places like Basra.”

Unlike the vast majority of African Christians, Tutu is a theological liberal more akin to U.S. Episcopal bishops than African Anglicans. His big theme is that Saddam and bin Laden are God’s children, no less than Bush and Blair. Except he usually has more anger for Bush and Blair, plus nearly any Israeli.

Traditional Christians understand all persons are created in God’s image but have a choice on whether to accept His invite to become His children. The available evidence is that Saddam and bin Laden declined the invite.

As to the Iraq War’s morality, it’s still unexplained by critics like Tutu what viable alternatives were available in 2003 regarding a mass murdering dictator who had started 2 wars and joined the Taliban regime in publicly endorsing 9-11. Although Tutu is now over age 80, his claim that the Iraq War has destabilized the world more than any conflict in history indicates he has no memory prior to 2003.

Mark Tooley, a former CIA Analyst and graduate of Georgetown, is President of the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD).  He is a native of Virginia and a life-long Methodist.  This article first appear at the IRD blog and is used with permission.