Tutu says Blair, Bush should face trial

LONDON -- Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu called yesterday for Tony Blair and President George W. Bush to face prosecution at the International Criminal Court for their role in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Tutu, the retired Anglican archbishop of South Africa, wrote in an op-ed piece for The Observer that the ex-leaders of Britain and the United States should be made to "answer for their actions." The Iraq War "has destabilized and polarized the world to a greater extent than any other conflict in history," wrote Tutu, awarded the Nobel Prize in 1984.

"The then-leaders of the U.S. and U.K. fabricated the grounds to behave like playground bullies and drive us further apart. They have driven us to the edge of a precipice where we now stand -- with the specter of Syria and Iran before us," said Tutu, who withdrew last week from a conference in South Africa because of Blair's presence.