UK government’s reckless kowtowing of Trump on Syria – and contempt for the British people

Trump and May holding handsTrump and May holding hands

A word to my Westminster MP on Syria

Stuart Littlewood writes on 12 April:

A reminder to my MP that his party boss Theresa May and her out-of-control Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson impatiently jumped the gun on Iraq and look like making the same mistake on Syria in an apparent attempt to provoke a wider war.

In a crazy-dangerous situation like this, when our country is run by fools who never learn, what can one legitimately do short of taking to the streets in a mob? Write to one’s MP of course – though much good it will do. Most MPs are not there to express the wishes of their constituents but to obey the diktats of their tribal leaders (or the shadowy powers that pull their strings).

I well remember being on high alert during the last Cold War, and I’m not going through that again just to satisfy the pathological hatred some government ministers have for Russia, Iran and Syria while cosying up to the world’s truly vile regimes like Saudi Arabia and Israel and even rolling out the red carpet for them.

So, I for one have written to my MP along these lines:

Let’s remember that Theresa and Boris enthusiastically supported the loons who took us to war in Iraq and both voted against saying that the case for war against Iraq has not yet been established (see theyworkforyou.com). Both were impatient to commit the gravest crime in the book, namely taking a nation to war, without being sure of the facts and without even bothering to run basic checks that would have told them the information fed to Parliament by Labour was bollox. Millions of ordinary citizens had managed to work that out for themselves, so why not MPs who are entrusted with getting it right?

Boris, as we’ve seen, still hasn’t learned the lesson and is none too careful about the way he seeks, interprets and broadcasts intelligence. Or the way he recklessly hurls accusations when he’s actually paid to make friends and do trade…

We now hear that Theresa May is under pressure from ministers and allies to join a US-led military strike against the Assad regime in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack. She says that President Assad and Russia will be “held to account… if they are found to be responsible”. Funny she isn’t so keen to hold the Israeli regime to account for its barbarism in recent days. Or the Saudi regime for its genocide in Yemen…

She’s been warned that Britain risks losing influence in Washington and Paris if she refuses Trump’s request to join his murderous military adventure. Crude and despicable stuff from our nice allies.

Trump, like Boris, might not last long. Let us pray for that. Meanwhile, the whole insane caper has a high chance of going badly, and I do mean badly, wrong and this time there’ll be no hiding place for the warmongers who were part of it…

There are insistent counter-reports that the Douma chemical attack never happened. And we all know that America-Israel axis have long had their own criminal agendas in this energy-rich region and are masters of disinformation, false flags and other dirty tricks. So, the news this morning that Mrs May contemplates joining a mad-ass freak like Trump in an act of war without recalling Parliament fills me with even more rage and disgust than Blair ever managed to do.

As we teeter on the brink of war in Syria, a further word to my Westminster MP

Stuart Littllewood writes on 13 April:

It is disturbing to hear on the news this morning that the Cabinet has agreed in principle to join the US-led coalition for a military attack on Syria and decided Cabinet approval is all that’s necessary.

In other words, parliamentary democracy will be by-passed in a matter with potentially fatal consequences for millions. Blair in 2003 at least was bright enough to get gullible MPs from across the House to give him political cover for his illegal game.

I have just come across the following remarks by an eminent US law expert, Francis Boyle, Professor of International Law at the University of Illinois, that show Trump to be on very shaky ground and at risk of impeachment.

Boyle writes:

When Obama was in a similar position in 2013, his advisor Ben Rhodes has since commented that they turned back largely because they were afraid of impeachment. That fear is well founded. While the prospect of impeaching Trump is thrown around frequently for partisan purposes, on this issue the constitution is clear: Initiating a war or any such attack without authorisation is clearly impeachable.

Last year, at the National Press Club, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr claimed the authority to target the Syrian government stemmed from the 2001 Authorisation for the Use of Military Force. Gen. Dunford was totally incorrect. The AUMF passed after 9/11 has indeed been used to justify the bombing campaign purporting to target ISIS [Islamic State group], but it cannot possibly be used to justify targeting the Syrian government.

Excuses of “humanitarian intervention” have no basis in international law and in these circumstances are transparently hollow. Israel apparently just attacked Syria (illegal) from Lebanese airspace (also illegal). Israel itself just openly admitted that it is killing Palestinian civilian protesters – part of a decades-long brazenly illegal policy. The US representative to the UN, Nikki Haley, prevented even an inquiry by the UN into the matter. There’s no evidence of any humanitarian concern here, simply a search for pretexts to pursue geopolitical goals which may well include carving up Syria.

As upholders (one supposes) of the rule of law, including international law, Theresa May and her Cabinet colleagues surely won’t wish to implicate themselves – or the nation – in any such criminal conduct. You might criticise Boyle for his anti-US/Israel stance just as many people are sickened by the Conservative Party’s undying devotion to the Israel project, but none of that extinguishes the legal point. Exactly what advice has our Conservative government received, please, to say that joining this action against Syria is lawful or even sensible?

Also what rock-solid evidence is there that the Douma gas attack actually took place and, if so, that the Syrian government was responsible?

I imagine most government MPs have already asked these questions and received answers, but the British public is still waiting, unconsulted, while we teeter on the brink…

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