It is an astonishing fact that, despite near universal recognition now that the war in Iraq was a disaster, no major British social institution is headed by a single one of the majority of the population wo were opposed to the war.
Every Cabinet Minister actively supported the war. Of the fifteen Tory MPs who rebelled and voted against the war, not one is a minister. Civil servants officially have no politics but privately their opinions are known. There is not one single Permanent Under Secretary of a UK government department who was known to be against the war and most were enthusiasts. Simon Fraser, PUS at the FCO, was an active Blairite enthusiast for the war. Though no Blairite, the Head of MI6 Alex Younger was also an enthusiast.
The BBC was of course gutted following its revealing of the truth about Iraqi WMD, and the subsequent murder of David Kelly. Following the ousting of Greg Dyke, both Governors and Directors-Generals have been known supporters of the war. Of the 107 bureaucrats in the BBC who earn over 100,000 pounds pa, insiders estimate that only five were opponents of the war. Craig Oliver – who has now left the BBC for Cameron’s media operation – and James Purnell are absolutely typical of the BBC Iraqocracy.
Every current editor of a UK national newspaper supported the Iraq war. At the time of the war there was one editor opposed – Piers Morgan – who subsequently became a derided and marginalised figure. Not only are the editors firmly from the neo-con alliance, but the high profile commentators who cheered on the war – David Aaronovich, Nick Cohen, Melanie Phillips, John Rentoul, Rod Liddle etc. – have all seen their careers flourish. None has suffered from their appalling lack of judgement. There is no similar raft of commentators who were against the war who enjoy such constant media promotion and massive salaries. Many, like Peter Oborne, have suffered unexpected career glitches. There is no head of a major TV channel in the UK who was against the war in Iraq.
The theme runs through all the public professions. Of the hundreds of academics who took firm positions against the Iraq War, I cannot find a single example who went on to become a University Vice-Chancellor or Principal. By contrast actual war criminals Richard Dearlove and Valerie Amos were parachuted into academic leadership posts. The Chiefs of Staff of the armed forces were all true believers, compared to the massive scepticism that existed among senior officers.
The Iraq test even extends into the heads of institutions apparently quite unrelated, such as City of London banks and insurance companies. There are a tiny number of heads of FTSE 100 companies who were against the war.
It is not that there is an Iraq test. It is that Iraq is the touchstone for adherence to the neo-liberal consensus. All these professionally successful people share a number of attitudes, of which support for the Iraq War is a good indicator. There is a very strong correlation between support for the Iraq War and fierce Zionism. But there is also a strong correlation between support for the Iraq War and support for austerity economics. The strongest correlation of all lies in support for the Iraq War and for “business-friendly” tolerance of corporatism, TTIP, multinational tax avoidance, low taxation and marketization of public services including in education and health.
To return to where I started, the quite extraordinary thing is that there is a near-universal recognition in wider society that the Iraq War was both completely unjustified and a dreadful strategic blunder. Yet its support is a major pre-condition for membership of the governing elite.
The answer of course lies in its value as an indicator for a broad range of neo-liberal consensus attitudes. That is why both the SNP and Jeremy Corbyn provide such a threat to the Establishment, through denying those attitudes. The fascinating thing is that the SNP and the Labour Party could be the only public institutions in the UK of any note with an anti-Iraq War leadership. The significance is that, in slightly different ways, both the prominence of the SNP and of Jeremy Corbyn are the result of a public revolt which the Establishment has been trying, absolutely desperately, to cut off.
Ed Miliband did not actually vote against the Iraq War, contrary to popular myth. Having both the Labour and SNP parties led by people who reject the raft of values symbolised by the Iraq test, who have broken through the depleted uranium ceiling, is a massive, massive threat to the meritlessocracy. Institutional control appeared to be complete and impermeable. Suddenly they face the danger of the opinions of ordinary people carrying weight. Expect the media control mechanisms to whir into still greater overdrive.
Dreoilin.
I received a new book in the Post to-day.
I need somewhere to go, something to do, but I don’t have the energy. Worse, I don’t have the concentration.
I am needing fun! Some joy in my life. I should stay away from Craig’s blog. I know bad things are going on in the World. I should not get involved as I did to-day. However, I can’t sit back and say nothing.
I don’t do walking bye on the other side of the road.
Thanks for your input, it is much appreciated as is everyone else here who chips in with their good wishes and informative links. Thank you.
You’re welcome Robert. I do think of you often.
“I won’t see the court case because I do not have a television. I have had two letters from the T.V. License people this last month already. I am looking forward to a bit of fun with them when they turn up at my door.
Alistair Carmichael’s jaikit is on a shoogley nail. The electorate will get him at the next election, for sure.”
_________________
Robert you can watch it, on STV player through the device you are using now, it’s called catch up tv, it’s not live tv, but you can watch it nontheless.
Here is the link Robert, listen out for the court proceeding either in the press, or on the radio, then click this link.
http://player.stv.tv
Gannon/Guckert: What probably happened. This is a thread from the far-right site Free Republic back in 2005, but it makes sense to me.
Fwister.
With regards Libya I think the general public (and even many governments) were sold the line that Qadafi was murdering his people and the only way to protect them (short of boots on the ground) was with an aerial campaign. The UNSC resolution was framed in terms of duty to protect, and the Russians went along with the resolution on that basis. Armed with the resolution (and F16s) NATO took this to mean that they had carte blanche to destroy Qadafi’s forces. NATO in effect became the air force of the many rebel groups.
I did not mention Libya in my post, but of course it is another disastrous policy for which nobody paid a price. (Although maybe Hillary will indirectly over Benghazi attack).
Hillary isn’t telling us what she really thinks about Israel. Clinton confidant: Netanyahu driven by desperate need to please father: In declassified email, Clinton seems to agree with Sid Blumenthal that Mavi Marmara was ‘Bibi’s Entebbe in reverse,’ in which he tried to emerge from slain brother’s shadow:
I wonder what she really thinks about Libya and Benghazi.
“80% of all Conservative Members of Parliament MPs, and most Conservative Cabinet ministers, are members of the Conservative Friends of Israel.”
And 67% of British Jews voted Tory.
Republicofscotland.
Thanks for the link, I might just do that, then again, I might get angry listening to lies/excuses.
These people are expert wrigglers.
An article on Libya to support William Reeds comments;
http://www.sott.net/article/298448-NATO-Slaughter-James-and-Joanne-Moriarty-expose-the-truth-about-what-happened-in-Libya
Exaronews: Found: More secret files on allegations of sex offenses by ‘VIP’s. Files sealed for 75 years, unlike traditional 30.
Back to Corbyn for a minute.
Does anyone else think that he has statesman-like qualities, even if he is not oozing with charisma?
what is a fact is that the Labour election has created, far and away, much more interest and generated much wider debate than the recent general election. That says something about Labours credibility gap, now receiving attention because of one experienced,honest, intelligent, even wise, man.
Fwlster:
“Let us suppose that the great empire of China, with all its myriads of inhabitants, was suddenly swallowed up by an earthquake, and let us consider how a man of humanity in Europe, who had no sort of connection with that part of the world, would be affected upon receiving intelligence of this dreadful calamity. He would, I imagine, first of all, express very strongly his sorrow for the misfortune of that unhappy people, he would make many melancholy reflections upon the precariousness of human life, and the vanity of all the labours of man, which could thus be annihilated in a moment. He would too, perhaps, if he was a man of speculation, enter into many reasonings concerning the effects which this disaster might produce upon the commerce of Europe, and the trade and business of the world in general. And when all this fine philosophy was over, when all these humane sentiments had been once fairly expressed, he would pursue his business or his pleasure, take his repose or his diversion, with the same ease and tranquillity, as if no such accident had happened. The most frivolous disaster which could befall himself would occasion a more real disturbance. If he was to lose his little finger to-morrow, he would not sleep to-night; but, provided he never saw them, he will snore with the most profound security over the ruin of a hundred millions of his brethren, and the destruction of that immense multitude seems plainly an object less interesting to him, than this paltry misfortune of his own”.
– Adam Smith (“The Theory of Moral Sentiments”)
Don’t know what the hagwitch thinks, or care. This is what she said.
‘We came, We saw, He died.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgcd1ghag5Y
This is her again with another hagwitch Cherie. Look at Cherie in the photo.
Hillary Clinton emails: Cherie Blair lobbied for Qatari crown prince
In 2010 email, Blair seeks meeting between US secretary of state and Sheikh Tamim ‘to discuss potential partnership issues’
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/01/hillary-clinton-emails-cherie-blair-lobbied-qatari-royal-family
1 September 2015
and again interfering in the Edinburgh Festival after she was lobbied by a Mr Greenspun.
Hillary Clinton intervened in row over Ken Loach’s film festival boycott call
Emails show US officials were asked to put pressure on Gordon Brown after director persuaded Edinburgh to reject Israeli grant
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/01/hillary-clinton-ken-loach-edinburgh-festival-boycott-call-israel
1 September 2015
Where will it all end- will it end?
This must surely be the most corrupt period in our history. Overseen by the most wretched and evil individuals ever to have stalked this planet.
“The news from China led to a broad sell off around the world. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 2.8% at 469 points, the S&P 500 closed down 2.95% and the Nasdaq down 2.95%. In London the FTSE 100, closed on Monday for a public holiday, fell 189.4 points, or 3.03%, to 6,058.54. Germany’s Dax dropped 2.38% to 10,015.57 and France’s Cac closed 2.4% lower at 4541.16. Japan’s Nikkei had earlier closed down a 3.8% and China’s Shanghai composite index suffered a smaller 1.3% loss.”
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/01/us-markets-close-down-china-economy
I’ve no idea what all these figures mean, but I just love the CAC! and maybe Wall Street should be renamed the Stock Holdings Investment and Trade Enterprise (SHITE); but don’t forget that next July we collide with Mars…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kq1JQUhwVQ
(I claim this is on-topic, because yet another financial meltdown is directly related to what Craig says in his post)
Lance Vance… “This must surely be the most corrupt period in our history. Overseen by the most wretched and evil individuals ever to have stalked this planet”.
I am afraid Lance that people have probably said that many times before. Things are bad, but they have been worse. For example in the 30s and 40s Hitler, Stalin, Franco and Mussolini were rampant. Not to mention the Depression.
Speculation has it that David Milliband who now heads up a charity in New York is funding lawyer (intelligence officer?) David Mills to denigrate Jeremy Corbyn in a contrivance. This may well be total rubbish because I cannot green light the source – might be worth an examination.
David Mills has a very questionable past.
Lance Vance: “This must surely be the most corrupt period in our history. Overseen by the most wretched and evil individuals ever to have stalked this planet.”
In some ways, but in others there is more cause for optimism than at any other time.
The notion that people should not be property took many thousands of years to settle. The idea that all races are entitled to equal rights with the dominant white man only really started after WWII, and making women equal to men in all respects, only a couple of generations back.
Living in a manner not approved of by the Church, people of the same sex living together, children out of wedlock and so on – “moral issues” – has only been granted true societal acceptance in the last few decades.
I’m not talking about how various governments carry on, but rather of the attitudes of individuals, expressed as society’s general judgement.
In the last decade or so we’ve had popular movements protesting against their country’s wars before they even started. The scourge of religious delusion is on the wane. People are decreasingly accepting of violent or abusive behaviour towards the helpless, and are even showing more concern about animals and the environment.
You might say we – as people – are becoming more tolerant, peaceful and generally enlightened. Not that this shows much in the corrupt, filthy governments worldwide – of course. But even they must undertake their governance with a wary eye on public opinion, in a manner never experienced before.
Whether this enlightenment will take hold in the way we run our civilisation, and do so to a sufficient extent before it’s too late, will show how optimistic any given individual might be. But the direction is undoubtedly good.
Thak-you Glenn – that post was most enjoyable and invigorating.
Thanks for that encouraging comment, Glenn. Cheered me up on my way to bed! (Even if people choose to argue with you tomorrow.)
Russian jets in Syrian skies
Russia has begun its military intervention in Syria, deploying an aerial contingent to a permanent Syrian base, in order to launch attacks against ISIS and Islamist rebels; US stays silent.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4696268,00.html
My understanding Mark is that the Israeli reports are false and that there is no change in Russian presence in Syria.
https://www.rt.com/news/314010-syria-russia-planes-isis/
Lance, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will be the final nail in the coffin.
The corporate coup d’etat will be complete. Welcome to Stepford Wives land.
If the people of these islands have got any balls they’ll rise up and lynch these vermin (politicians and corporates); but don’t hold your breath on that happening.
Did someone mention Dr Kelly? Why?
After more than 12 years, cannot you really come to terms with the fact that the cause of his death doesn’t matter?
OK I hear a little puffing but its true; get used to it!
Doesn’t matter how? Well in terms of the people that decide these things have decided.
Who are these people? Well these are the people who are given money by the people who decide nothing, to make decisions on their behalf, not because the money givers are too stupid to make their own minds up but because the money givers are too stupid to put an end to their own stupidity.
Let me give you an example;
Norman Baker, Minister for the Home Office who was paid to decide what the money givers needed to think; worked out that Dr Kelly had been murdered, he knew it. One reason was he had been told by someone with intimate knowledge of how it was done. It began with an injection into Dr Kelly’s backside.
The pathologist paid for by the money givers noted that their was a puncture wound (needle size) on Dr Kelly’s outer, upper left thigh but didn’t say what could have caused it. The investigators into Kelly’s death, paid for by the money givers, didn’t inquire what may have caused it and the money givers didn’t ask.
You had your chance 12 years ago and you couldn’t be bothered so stop mithereing now. Baker isn’t interested, the police, government or the Daily Mail don’t care what caused the needle mark on Kelly’s arse so what right do the people who pay these people to decide things have to make a fuss now? None!
But if you cannot stop fretting why don’t you turn your attention onto why the police lied at the Hutton inquiry instead of how Kelly actually died, discover why the police lied and you will get nearer to the truth.
The answer to the question is the police (at the top) believed it was their duty and ordered their minions to do their duty on behalf of the money givers.
That’s why the paedos are protected because the money givers can’t be arsed to tell the police that this is not want they want.
Or if you think that telling someone via an internet blog that this is not why you pay them money to have a better retirement than you then you have to think of better ways of getting your message across or more babies are going to be bummed..
Correct John – the Russian jets are there and the pilots are ‘Syrian’ – can I suggest that please.
“Look at Cherie in the photo.”
Evil personified.
The pilots are Syrian not ‘Syrian.’
Just a tip ‘Bevin’ take it or throw it away.