BLAIR’S BOMBS

The mainstream media’s response to the bombings and yesterdays announcement of the prosecution of three British soldiers for war crimes, allegedly committed in Iraq, under the International Criminal Court Act has been - perhaps predictably - apoplectic.

Retired Colonel Tim Collins (who himself was accused of criminal behaviour) writes in baleful words in the Torygraph:

“The fact that the term "war crimes" has been used this week has also muddied the waters. Both servicemen and the British public need to be told exactly what is going on. Might the soldiers who have been accused eventually find themselves in The Hague? How many more cases like this are in the offing? How high might the arm of the International Criminal Court reach? Could, for instance the very legitimacy of the war be called into question?”

Surely not Timmy. The Telegraph’s outraged editorial writes:

War crimes will for ever be associated in the public mind with Adolf Hitler or the Bosnian Serb general, Ratko Mladic - men responsible for systematic genocide or the razing of entire towns and villages.
To seek to brand two NCOs and one private in the QLR as international war criminals, because of the death of one man, makes a mockery of the suffering of the Jews under Hitler, or of the people of Srebrenica at the hands of Mladic. It is also devastating to the morale of the entire British Army, to feel that at any moment the Government may subject a soldier on active service to the panoply of human rights.”

Can’t have moral undermined. The underlying assumption behind these plaintive pleas is that the UK should somehow operate above international law. It’s a curious notion. Perhaps Albion is mysteriously guided by a higher force (of course it is). This sort of stuff reflects a deep seam of racism and imperialist thinking that is strong element in English culture.

But Iraq keeps appearing for Blair like the Black Spot. Every time he sees a vista of lovely modernising revisionist policy guff on the horizon, another murder squad emerges out of the darkness. It’s a Macbethian epic and it’s going to run and run. Even with a dumb-as-fuck media cow-towing like good little boys and girls, there’s always the odd few to spoil the party.

John Pilger writing in the New Statesman writes:

“The bombs of 7 July were Blair's bombs.

Blair brought home to this country his and George W Bush's illegal, unprovoked and blood-soaked adventure in the Middle East. Were it not for his epic irresponsibility, the Londoners who died in the Tube and on the No 30 bus almost certainly would be alive today. This is what Livingstone ought to have said. To paraphrase perhaps the only challenging question put to Blair on the eve of the invasion (by John Humphrys), it is now surely beyond all doubt that the man is unfit to be Prime Minister.

How much more evidence is needed? Before the invasion, Blair was warned by the Joint Intelligence Committee that "by far the greatest terrorist threat" to this country would be "heightened by military action against Iraq". He was warned by 79 per cent of Londoners who, according to a YouGov survey in February 2003, believed that a British attack on Iraq "would make a terrorist attack on London more likely". A month ago, a leaked, classified CIA report revealed that the invasion had turned Iraq into a focal point of terrorism. Before the invasion, said the CIA, Iraq "exported no terrorist threat to its neighbours" because Saddam Hussein was "implacably hostile to al-Qaeda".

Now, a report by the Chatham House organisation, a "think-tank" deep within the British establishment, may well beckon Blair's coup de grace. Published on 18 July, it says there is "no doubt" the invasion of Iraq has "given a boost to the al-Qaeda network" in "propaganda, recruitment and fundraising" while providing an ideal targeting and training area for terrorists. "Riding pillion with a powerful ally" has cost Iraqi, American and British lives. The right-wing academic Paul Wilkinson, a voice of western power, was the principal author. Read between the lines, and it says the Prime Minister is now a serious liability. Those who run this country know he has committed a great crime; the "link" has been made.”

Full article here...

2 comments

Do you just hate the Labour Party or something?

left by Steve on 22 July 2005

I dont think you should be publishing stuff like this in this time.

left by Davie on 22 July 2005