Quote Originally Posted by Eric the Half a Bee View Post
I'm by and large anti-war, anti-violence, sort things out by peaceful and diplomatic means.

Thatcher got huge support for the Falklands. It's reckoned that it saved her premiership. She also was PM when we went to war in Iraq the first time. I can't remember her being vilified at the time.

Blair did the same as Thatcher and got vilified. I remember the time that Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled. That symbolism was well received in the UK and, from memory, was well celebrated.

It strikes me that it's a bit odd that Thatcher never really suffered the public outrage years later for her wars, yet Blair did. Perhaps I'm missing something. BTW I'm not saying that I agree with Blair's actions but it's arguable that the whole middle eastern spiral started long before he came along.
I get your point about the difference between the reaction to Thatchers wars and Blairs wars.
There was one basic difference. In both thatchers wars she was defending a country that had been unlawfully invaded, The Falklands and Kuwait.
in Blair's case he was helping to invade a sovereign country.
Big difference in the eyes of ordinary people, morally. you only need to look at the help we had in the Falklands and the number of nations involved in Kuwait to see it.