Between 4 and 20 August the Saudi Arabian government beheaded 19 people. Saudi Arabia, which has funded and armed ISIS from inception (initially with CIA support), is now bombing alongside the USA in Iraq and Syria.
Forget the war technology porn regularly being broadcast by western media, with those spectacular photos of missiles erupting from ships into the night sky. Those missiles and bombs eviscerate and maim innocents as well as combatants, children as well as terrorists. The West always first denies, then regrets, “collateral damage”. The propaganda can be laughable. During the invasion of Iraq I remember a news propaganda item about how a cruise missile can enter a specific window, being followed by the next item – the US had apologised to Syria for two missiles aimed at Iraq which had hit Syria by accident.
If we can accidentally bomb the Chinese Embassy in Serbia, we can – and do – hit civilian homes near the proposed target. Being eviscerated by a piece of flying shrapnel is no less terrible than being beheaded by a jihadist. Let us not pretend that our violence is somehow nicer. Children will be dying under our bombs soon.
Other than the two extraordinary crazed Nigerians, there have been no recent Islamic motivated terrorist attacks in the UK and even a slowdown in the propaganda of phoney attacks. This was a threat to the major financial interests of the security industry, in both its governmental and private branches.
There can be no greater nonsense than the idea that the Caliphate poses a direct threat to the UK. This is even more crazy than the claim that Saddam Hussein posed a threat to the UK. But by seeking to join in the bombing campaign, and initiating a new round of fake “anti-terror” arrests in London, the British government is doing everything it possibly can do to try to provoke terrorist violence on British streets. The interests of the security state are therefore secured. I am longing for somebody to explain to me the precise mechanism by which our bombing Islamic countries helps prevent terrorist incidents in the UK. The way it can provoke such incidents seems to me too obvious to need stating. Indeed it says a great deal for the wisdom and tolerance of Britain’s Muslim communities that it has not provoked more. They could teach government a great deal about the good sense of not resorting to violence to gratify passions and earn short term acclaim.
Craig,
“I am longing for somebody to explain to me the precise mechanism by which our bombing Islamic countries helps prevent terrorist incidents in the UK.”
There you have it,the whole disgusting issue in a nutshell.
Even ex-MI5 head Eliza Manningham-Buller admitted this-after she’d left office of course.
amazingly, just heard Ali Abdul-Amir Allawi interviewed on BBC R4 World at One @13:15 (was Minister of Trade and Minister of Defense in the cabinet appointed by the Interim Iraq Governing Council from September 2003 until 2004) and he talked five minutes of actual sense, without being interrupted.
his gist was that it’s a complex situation, the truth about who funds who , who is aligned with who is currently obscured and it’s no way to start a war
did he have 650 ‘informed’ listeners I wonder, getting ready for the vote tomorrow?
“I am longing for somebody to explain to me the precise mechanism by which our bombing Islamic countries helps prevent terrorist incidents in the UK.”
It doesn’t. Fortunately up to now the UK Muslim community has been long-suffering over defamation by the media. Young UK Muslims, who in my opinion and those of their families, misguidedly went to fight in foreign wars on idealogical grounds, are more likely to come back horrified by war than radicalised against UK residents. We encouraged this action against Assad until oilfields were threatened by the western-creation ISIS.
Cameron needs a raison d’être to bomb. There is an election next year and he is the protégé of Thatcher, who when her popularity was flagging got it back on course with her war in the Falklands. Anything will do. So they make it up, beheadings and all. I’m sick of it and urge everybody of all parties to lobby their MPs against voting for Cameron’s war.
I will post this link again for those who missed it last time. Flood out their inboxes and get Cameron defeated a second time on his war in Syria, and Miliband’s war in Iraq.
http://act.stopwar.org.uk/lobby/iraq_and_syria
Remind them, if like my MP, they voted for war in Iraq on a lie, and that if they vote for this, they are voting for another lie.
Don’t bother with reading Catch 22 because this from Audrey Bailey is a brilliant summary of Joseph Heller’s novel: “Are you confused by what is going on the Middle East? Let me explain. We support the Iraqi government in the fight against Islamic Sate. We don’t like IS, but IS is supported by Saudi Arabia, whom we do like. We don’t like President Assad in Syria. We support the fight against him, but not IS, which is also fighting against him. We don’t ike Iran, but Iran supports the Iraqi government against IS. So some of our friends support our enemies and some of our enemies are our friends, and some of our enemies are fighting against our other enemies whom we want to lose, but we don’t want our enemies who are fighting our enemies to win. If the people we want to defeat are defeated, they might be replaced by people we like even less. And all this was started by us invading a country to drive out terrorists who were’t there until we went to drive them out. Do you understand now.”
Interesting photo of ‘radical preacher’ Anjem Choudary on the front page if The Telegraph.
Note the 5 fingers.
Geddit? Ho ho…
Yup, and at the same time they were showing us those ‘surgical strike’ images of the cruise missiles turning left at the traffic lights and going in through the open window, the US Army was burying Iraqi troops alive in their trenches with giant ploughs attached to tanks. They didn’t proudly show us footage of that though.
The threat of ISIL is indirect, since young people go there from the UK, for training and may then return to make mayhem in the UK.
As for the recent anti-terrorist arrests in London, the former leader of Al-Muhajiroun may well have seen by MI5 agents stirring up support for ISIL.
Craig,
” There can be no greater nonsense than the idea that the Caliphate poses a direct threat to the UK”
I think that there is truth and error working side by side:-
Truth – the CIA and Saudi Arabia have much to for the ISIS trained and funded Jihadists who they thought would unseat Assad.
Truth – When many Muslims see Muslim countries being attacked, they feel a deep sense of resentment and some act on those emotions. The idea of being recruited to go overseas from the UK to fight a holy war appeals to some UK citizens of the Muslim faith.
Error – the effect of these attacks on Muslim countries results in blowback and to some extent the increased likelihood of domestic terrorism emanating from the Muslim community in the UK ( And – this is not to say that I view Muslims as my enemy – just a comment on the dynamics of human feeling).
Error – the Caliphate is not going to establish any embassies anytime soon – nor are they going to acquire any bombers to attack the UK.
HOW TOTALLY MISCONCEIVED AND ERRONEOUS – OBAMA TO THE UN
“As we gather here, an outbreak of Ebola overwhelms public health systems in West Africa, and threatens to move rapidly across borders. Russian aggression in Europe recalls the days when large nations trampled small ones in pursuit of territorial ambition. The brutality of terrorists in Syria and Iraq forces us to look into the heart of darkness,”
So global threat number 1 is Ebola – followed by Russia – then ISIS ( which the CIA was involved in supporting with a view that Assad would be toppled).
Obama seems to be viewing the world through his own special and “exceptional” prism.
It’s nothing to do with preventing terrorist incidents, as you well know.
Banning sugar, tobacco, alcohol, cars or Iain Duncan Smith, for that matter, would each save 100’s of times as many UK lives at far less cost. It’s about oil.
And re, Obama’s list of priorities, climate change doesn’t even appear, despite the UN Climate Summit having taken place two days ago in New York. So we’ll still be pumping the black stuff out as fast as we can, and making sure it’s all Ours and not Theirs.
As part of the broad coalition supporting the US, we must all stand together in the united alliance for Freedom & Democracy against ISIS/IS/ISIL/Daash/Daesh
oops: http://www.neurope.eu/article/slovenian-pm-not-happy-about-being-made-part-anti-isis-coalition-without-knowing
There’s a fundamental racism underlying the violence too.
Terror threats (given how we currently define them) exist in nearly every country on the planet. Yet the countries that get bombed as a response to the threat are poor, non-white, and majority Muslim.
To the extent this is a at its core a war for “hearts and minds”, it isn’t going well.
To be clear then, Craig, you propose that the US, UK and France do nothing. If that’s your answer then I respect that, but let’s hear it from you. Are you content to let ISIS rape, behead and crucify its way across the Middle East without any foreign intervention? It’s very easy to carp away from the sidelines and expose every inconsistency in Western policy in such a very complex part of the world, whilst having absolutely no responsibilty for any deciosion-making yourself.
Disappointing – as anticipated, but disappointing nevertheless (“anticipointment”?) to see the supposed Left on US MSN, in the form of Rachel Maddow, quite giddy with excitement at the awesome power of the missiles being launched, in yet another demonstration of the mighty US of A in action. Such people are called “Cruise-missile Liberals”, I hear.
The Chinese never believed that the bombing of their embassy was a mistake. They never forget either.
As for IS who wish to explain why during 14centuries, until early 1990s there was no specific Islamic terror? Terrorism was spread out equally more or less around the world. Rabies does not explain either the rise of vicious hordes of Muslim fanatics.
It was well planned, well orchestrated. Still some Muslims have been complicit, have betrayed so profoundly there own people… Ben Laden the first amongst them. From CA agent during the Afghan war to… CIA agent everafter.
Good article Craig.
Off Topic.
_________
Recently released FBI crime statistics curiously show that no murders occurred in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, despite reports that numerous schoolchildren and faculty members were slaughtered during a shooting rampage in December of that year, at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Here on the FBI’s website is the proof, next to Newtown Connecticut, the number of deaths for 2012 was 0.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/tables/8tabledatadecpdf/table-8-state-cuts/table_8_offenses_known_to_law_enforcement_by_connecticut_by_city_2012.xls#disablemobile
Alternative site info.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/fbi-says-no-one-killed-at-sandy-hook.html
Anon
There is a great deal I would do – none of which involves counter-productive bombing. I would start by an intellectually honest assessment which realises that there will be no progress in the Middle East without the destruction of the vicious dictatorship of the House of al Saud.
If I understood Cameron’s speech at the UN (broadcast over RT) yesterday, he is calling for making illegal making statements that could inspire people to commit acts of terrorism, and includes conspiracy theories about 9/11 and 7/7. That would of course be a drastic limitation of freedom of speech. One wonders whether such conspiracy theories are regarded as so dangerous because Cameron and other officials know there is truth in them.
Our psychopathic leaders light the fire with violence and then say they will put it out with violence.
This is yesterday’s NYT. Note the paragraph on the secret CIA training facility in Jordan. The first town ISIS took over was Turaibil, right on the Jordan/Iraq border.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/19/world/middleeast/us-and-allies-turn-to-rebels-with-a-cause-fighting-isis.html&assetType=nyt_now&_r=1
Sorry, NYT from last week.
Can the Scottish tail wag the UK dog? I certainly expect some NO voters are on board, but Scots tend Lefty right?
Cameron is in full war mode. Can you stop him?
Craig; I’ve asked before. Do you see any connection between Putin and this op on Assad? Putins treaty with Syria obligates him to protect, doesn’t it?
John Goss
25 Sep, 2014 – 1:45 pm
“I’m sick of it and urge everybody of all parties to lobby their MPs against voting for Cameron’s war.”
No point with my MP John, he voted for the first proposed attack on Syria; he’s a dyed-in-the-wool Tory and a Conservative friend of Israel.
He’s a bit like Habbabkuk in that you never get a straight answer from him.
House of Al Saud, it sounds like a Cash & Carry. Do they sell fairy-lights?
“Other than the two extraordinary crazed Nigerians, there have been no recent Islamic motivated terrorist attacks in the UK and even a slowdown in the propaganda of phoney attacks. ”
Was this a reference to the Woolwich attack? If so I’m afraid you have been fooled by disinfo.This was a classic UK Establishment False Flag and if memory serves they are of Nigerian descent, not Nigerian nationals.
Worth checking out: angirfan or now aanirfan Blogspot for further background
Kind Regards
James
YouKnowMyName – I listened to “the World at One” as well. There wasn’t a single voice or thing said against the UK joining in the bombing. Zero. Typical BBC these days really. And no mention of the hostage who’s going to be executed when parliament approves the bombing.
Craig
I agree with your thoughts but lease don’t fall into UKIP territory the two suspects were not crazy Nigerians they were Brits (albeit of Nigerian descent)
Saudi Arabia has also sent a few ‘Made in USA’ jets to bomb the pro-Iran Houthi Shias targets in Yemen.
The so-called “Nigerian bomber” was a CIA-Mossad false flag operation to begin with.
Now cutting the numerous consipracy crap to blame Muslims for another act of ‘terrorism’ – I have just one question for the paranoid ‘Islamophobes’. How the heck Umar Farouk Abdul Muttalab was able to escape with his explosive device at Amsterdam Airport which uses ‘made in Israel’ the full body SEE YOUR NAKED BUTT scanners?
The security at Amsterdam airport is run by Israeli ICTS, the very same company which ran security at every single airport from which the 9-11 terrorists departed, apparently, also bypassing security checks. According to the company’s website: “ICTS is the main security vendor for the European operations of Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, and United Airlines. We are also the sole provider of security services at all of American Airlines and US Airways European stations”.
http://rehmat1.com/2009/12/29/the-nigerian-terrorist/
“There can be no greater nonsense than the idea that the Caliphate poses a direct threat to the UK.”
Right. We understand that, in a democracy, the realpolitikal objective of war can rarely be publicly stated — which is probably why people read this blog. They hope to find out something about the real underlying motivation for what is happening.
Concerning Britain’s present military involvement in the ME you’ve previously referred to the “needs” of the security state. But that’s surely not the whole story. Can you not put things in a broader context.
For example, what would be the geopolitical consequences of the rise of a Middle-Eastern Islamic superstate able to direct the oil wealth of the region to the development of its own high-tech military industrial complex? Wasn’t it to prevent just that that Saddam’s Iraq, as a modern secular state, had to be destroyed? And isn’t it, as a backward medieval autocracy, that Saudi Arabia has had to be preserved?
If these are the unpleasant realities, what are the better alternatives?