"No Cutting and Running": Apology for Violating the Rights of the Human Beings and Nations

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"No Cutting and Running": Apology for Violating the Rights of the Human Beings and Nations

Fact and Fiction

Speaking at a press conference in Ankara on May 17 when questioned about the continuing disaster in Iraq and the media speculation that the Anglo-Americans were planning an "exit strategy" from that country, Tony Blair once again set out the government's approach. He declared: "We're not going to have any so-called quick exit, there will be no cutting and running in Iraq. We will continue until the job is done."

With these words, Blair showed that the policy of the government in Iraq is a determined policy of aggression and colonial occupation, and that it refuses point blank to face the real consequences of its illegal attack on that country. By this logic, the Anglo-American assault on and occupation of Iraq which has multiplied the problems facing the people of that country must be pressed on with regardless of the consequences in the real world on the basis that there can be no "cutting and running". When the situation cries out for political wisdom, for abandoning 19th century colonialist and warmongering approaches which are presently devastating Iraq and present a mortal danger to world peace, Tony Blair takes the opposite road.

When questioned about his "moral authority" to pursue the devastation of Iraq which the Anglo-American occupation is causing, Blair retorted, "The moral authority to continue and keep going in Iraq is this, that before the war in Iraq Saddam Hussein was in charge, brutalising his people and destroying the country."

This grotesque comment is unbelievable in the light of the recent revelations of the brutality and torture meted out to the Iraqi people by the occupiers and the destruction of the country under the occupation, which according to the Prime Minister must be judged only by the moral yardstick of the previous government. For Tony Blair, 19th century colonialist prejudices prevail over modern considerations, which the peoples of the world have shed their blood in their millions to establish, that human beings have rights by virtue of being human, that peoples have rights by virtue of being peoples, and that anyone who sets out to extinguish these rights must be considered criminal before the court of democratic world opinion. Pursuing these prejudices, pursuing the logic that liberation is a gift to be bestowed by crushing by any means an insurgent people, Tony Blair declare that whatever the real state of affairs for the people of Iraq, they must be better off under the Anglo-American occupation. Even if the Iraqi people are fighting the occupiers with arms and broad political and social movements, none of this exists. All that exist is the superiority of the Anglo-Americans. In this way, Blair parallels the racist regimes of Rhodesia and apartheid South Africa who never grew tired of declaring that their Africans were the "happiest Africans" in Africa.

Further on in the press conference, Blair defined what he meant by "getting the job done". He asked rhetorically: "Have we got the will to see it through to a country that is stable and democratic and operates in the best interests of the majority of the Iraqi people?" He answered in the manner of that imperialist Winston Churchill, and with more than an echo of Adolf Hitler: "I can assure you my answer to that is that we have the will, we have the leadership to do it, we will get the job done and we will continue until the job is done."

For Tony Blair, the people of Iraq do not exist outside of the role of grateful recipients of the "stability and democracy" which the occupiers are imposing with violence, murder and torture. For him, "we" – namely the occupiers – will decide what is "in the best interest of the majority of the Iraqi people". This is something that the Iraqi people will have no say in, only the hand-picked Iraqi stooges.

This presentation by Blair shows how far removed from reality his government is and how mired it is in warmongering and colonialism. The working class and people need to break with this outdated and reactionary outlook and fight for an anti-war government which puts the rights of human beings at the centre of its attention, defends world peace and respects the sovereignty and rights of nations and peoples.

Speaking in an interview on BBC Radio Lancashire on May 12 regarding the torture of Iraqis by British troops, Tony Blair declared: "What there isn't evidence of at all as far as I am concerned is evidence of widespread systematic abuse; on the contrary, the latest Red Cross report on the detainees held by the British is actually favourable."

Excerpts from the Executive Summary of the February 2004 ICRC report on the treatment of prisoners in Iraq:

"The main violations which are described in the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) report and presented confidentially to the Coalition Forces (CF), include

* brutality against protected persons upon capture and initial custody, sometimes causing death or serious injury

* absence of notification of arrest of persons deprived of their liberty to their families causing distress among persons deprived of their liberty and their families

* physical or psychological coercion during interrogation to secure information

* prolonged solitary confinement in cells devoid of daylight

* excessive and disproportionate use of force against persons deprived of their liberty resulting in death or injury during their period of internment

* seizure and confiscation of private belongings of persons deprived of their liberty

* exposure of persons deprived of their liberty to dangerous tasks

* holding persons deprived of their liberty in dangerous places where they are not protected from shelling

"The ICRC collected allegations of ill treatment following capture which took place in Baghdad, Basrah, Ramadi and Tikrit, indicating a consistent pattern with respect to times and places of brutal behaviour during arrest. The repetition of such behaviour by CF appeared to go beyond the reasonable, legitimate and proportional use of force to apprehend suspects or restrain persons resisting arrest or capture, and seemed to reflect a usual modus operandi by certain CF battle group units.

"Allegations of ill-treatment perpetrated by members of the CF against persons deprived of their liberty went beyond exceptional cases and might be considered as a practice tolerated by the CF."