7-12-05,4:50am
RIGHT-WING politicians and their counterparts in the media have been baying for national unity in the battle to defeat terrorism.
Tony Blair affected a Churchillian air in his address to the nation and this theme was picked up in some daily newspapers, as though Britain is confronted, as it was in the second world war, by a powerful, rapacious regime hell-bent on world conquest.
It is not. The plight in which Londoners have found themselves has been a crisis that was made in Downing Street.
The crisis has its roots in the determination of the US president and his British acolyte to fashion a world safe for transnational corporations to make profits in.
Anti-war campaigners warned prior to the 2003 conflict in Iraq - indeed even before the invasion of Afghanistan - that such a criminal escapade could rebound on those letting slip the dogs of war.
The Prime Minister has taken to repeating the lie uttered by George W Bush, namely that the illegal invasion of Iraq had been undertaken in response to the threat of international terrorism.
For the record, this never formed part of their justification for attacking Iraq.
It is understandable that Mr Blair would not wish to be reminded of the reason that he gave for committing this country's armed forces to following the US military into Iraq, because the pretext, weapons of mass destruction, has been shown beyond doubt to be false.
Not that WMD was the real reason for war. Mr Blair's motivation was his single-minded determination to weld his government to the White House administration as its closest ally and to respond positively to its every whim.
He cannot be criticised for failure to carry this through. His slavish support has been quite mind-boggling.
The Prime Minister has even dropped all that he said about global warming and the Kyoto treaty to ensure a trouble-free ride for Mr Bush at the G8 summit.
His fixation with the reflected aura of being the best mate of the world's bully has served this country ill by placing our civilians in the firing line of a needless war.
Unlike the second world war, where there was a clear divide between fascism and democracy, the conflict that is being played out now is without justification.
The imperialist wars of conquest are waged to safeguard US control of scarce energy resources and to enhance Washington's global hegemony.
Those who respond by attacking soft civilian targets are ruthless, reactionaries who are out of step with all decent human beings and who could be isolated into impotence were it not for the actions of the new imperialists that breed widespread despair.
Tony Blair must answer for his role in fanning the flames of this disastrous conflagration. He must be made to resign without delay.
From Morning Star
