Tony Blair and Dick Cheney: Campaign for State Terror

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Tony Blair and Dick Cheney: Campaign for State Terror

Republicans Welcome Debate over United Ireland

International Women’s Day:
Sinn Féin Committed to Building an Ireland of Equals

Tony Blair met US Vice President Dick Cheney in London yesterday, March 11.

Tony Blair boasted that inside Afghanistan the Taleban have gone, and that the al Qu'ida network is being dismantled. According to the Prime Minister, thanks to the International Security Assistance Force something approaching normality is starting to return to Afghanistan. He said that Britain was talking to "coalition" partners about who takes on the role of leading the ISAF, though Britain, he said, will remain committed to the Security Force for its duration.

Tony Blair reaffirmed that Britain was not going to turn its back on Afghanistan, as he put it, "we will not let it become a failed state again," in a declaration that Anglo-US imperialism will continue to interfere and ensure a foothold and a political system acceptable to it.

The Prime Minister said that the discussions between himself and Vice President Cheney took stock of the situation in the "wider campaign against terrorism". "I would like once again to pay tribute to the leadership that President Bush has given to this campaign right from the outset," he said. According to Tony Blair, the "coalition that we have assembled" has acted "in a calm and a measured way and this will continue". This gives one pause to think what campaign of state terror would have been unleashed if the response had been unmeasured.

Taking up President Bush’s logic on why it is necessary to consider taking out Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Tony Blair said that, as he had pointed out right from the outset, the "threat of weapons of mass destruction will have to be addressed". The logic is that, as the Prime Minister put it, "Al Qu’ida would use chemical or biological or even nuclear weapons of mass destruction if they could, and I also said that there were some groups and some states who trade the technology and capability for such weapons."

He continued, "I said at that time that it was right that this trade was disposed, disrupted and stamped out and that remains our position. No decisions of course have been taken yet on how we proceed, but this is a time when we discuss how important it is that the issue of weapons of mass destruction is properly dealt with. I look forward of course to discussing these issues further with President Bush when I visit the United States of America in April." This can be considered a declaration both that the US-British nuclear blackmail will continue, while preparations must be in place to attack Iraq on the pretext of "stamping out" "weapons of mass destruction".

Dick Cheney, for his part, paid tribute to Tony Blair for his "clarity and conviction in this time of testing". He pointed out that the British military has made a significant contribution to the coalition forces operating in Afghanistan. "The United Kingdom," he said, "has taken additional important steps in the war, including the freezing of millions of pounds of terrorist assets, as well as passing new legislation to make it possible to confront the on-going danger of terror. This morning the Prime Minister and I discussed the progress that has been made and the challenges that await our continuing efforts."

Dick Cheney went on to refer to "the Nuclear Posture Review". He said that in that study the Pentagon takes note of and consider the possible threats to the United States from "those nations that are seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction" and that the report specifically cited, as the press has reported, "Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, North Korea".

WDIE condemns this meeting of the British Prime Minister and US Vice President, which was dedicated to furthering the Anglo-US campaign of state terror, including in the Middle East, as well as in Afghanistan, Iraq and other places around the world on which they wish to impose their global imperialist strategy.

Northern Ireland Sinn Fein party chairperson Mitchel McLaughlin, speaking on a tour of major centres of population in Australia last week, predicted that within 15 years a United Republic of Ireland would be in its infancy.

Referring to the next 10 to 15 years as "the end phase" in the countdown to a United Ireland, he told his Australian audiences:

"Despite the problems – and many of those problems remain – there has been very significant progress from an Irish republican perspective. We believe that we are now approaching the end of what has been a very long and historic struggle for national independence.

"We are coming to a point where I believe it can be confidently predicted that within this generation the British link, the British governmental and administrative involvement in Ireland will be brought to a peaceful and democratic conclusion."

Mitchel McLaughlin commented: "I believe that more and more unionists are realising the futility of duplication of services and government structures on a small island of 5.5 million people. I believe that the unionist business community sees its economic future in a one island one economic system."

He stressed: " British government representatives cannot publicly declare that they are unionists and at the same time claim to be acting in an impartial capacity. The British government too needs to recognise the direction that change is taking us and prepare for the inevitable outcome. Irish Unity."

The idea for a referendum as soon as next year was floated on Saturday night, March 9, by David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, and First Minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly. David Trimble suggested that holding a Border Poll in 2003 would confirm that most of the province's residents prefer to maintain political union with Britain rather than join the Republic of Ireland.

In response, Mitchel McLaughlin said such a vote would "begin the countdown to a United Ireland". He continued, "The Good Friday Agreement is very clear in this regard. Once the first poll is called then it marks the beginning of a series of such polls every seven years until a majority in favour of constitutional change is established.

"Such a campaign would of course be a challenge for all of us, but it is a challenge which Sinn Féin is already working on. We are engaging with a range of diverse groups as we build an Alliance for Irish Unity and these sorts of regular polls would clearly fit in with that agenda."

At the same time, David Trimble called the Republic of Ireland a "a pathetic sectarian, mono-ethnic, mono-cultural state", in response to which Sinn Fein members demanded an apology, calling David Trimble’s remarks insulting to the people of the 26 counties and verging on racist.

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams speaking in Dublin on March 8 said that he "looks forward to discussing with unionists their vision of the future". This followed remarks by UUP Minister Reg Empey, who spoke of the need to launch a counter-offensive against Sinn Féin's efforts to engage with unionist opinion on the desirability and nature and form of a united Ireland.

However, Gerry Adams welcomed the remarks, saying:

"Irish republicans are convinced that Irish unity, in the context of clear legal, constitutional and institutional guarantees to protect the rights and entitlements of every citizen on the basis of equality, offers the best future for all the people of this island.

"There is an imperative, a responsibility, on republicans to spell out to unionists what sort of united Ireland we seek. We need to look at ways in which the unionist people can find their place in a new Ireland. We need to look at decentralisation. We need to look at what they mean by their sense of Britishness and how we can accommodate and embrace that. All of this requires a willingness on our part to explore and to be open to new concepts.

"In this context several weeks ago in a speech in Wexford I urged unionists to put forward their vision for the future and to consider, discuss, and engage with nationalists and republicans about the nature and form a new and acceptable united Ireland might take.

"Republicans are happy to engage with unionism on their vision for the future. We're open to listening to unionism about what they believe the union offers citizens. While at first glance a counter-offensive by unionists to the republican arguments promoting Irish unity may appear to make progress more difficult, the reality is that this should be seen as a positive development and the opening up of a public debate around these key issues."

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams, speaking in Dublin on March 8 prior to attending an International Women's Day meeting on the under-representation of women in Irish politics, said:

"Sinn Fein's commitment is to ‘Building an Ireland of Equals’. For Irish women in this state, this means real and substantive support for women as workers, pensioners, students, homemakers, carers and mothers.

"Economic growth has created wealth yet voluntary agencies caring for the most vulnerable women are seriously under-funded – for example Women's Aid and the Rape Crisis Centre."

Gerry Adams went on to say that Sinn Fein believes that social policy must get priority in a Programme for Government. He said:

"A future government must anchor delivery of the National Development Plan for Women in the Department of the Taoiseach and establish a gender- and equality-monitoring unit at the centre of government. Only then can all government policy be gender and equality proofed.

"Sinn Fein is committed to pursuing these objectives and indeed putting our own house in order. Using funding received under the ‘Equality for Women Measure’ our party has appointed an equality administrator. She has launched a programme using surveys and training to examine our practices, develop our policies and most importantly encourage and facilitate our women members and supporters into positions of power and responsibility.

"We are committed to improving opportunities and life for women in our party and society.

"We are proud to have a team of strong determined political leaders in our work on the peace process, together; with a dedicated team leading the election campaign in this state, republican women take their central place on the road map to an Ireland of Equals.''