Airstrip One

The Torture Fall Out

Although not a fan of torture as a rule, I was not really shocked that the Americans had to resort to some form of unorthodox interrogation methods when trying to run Iraq. This is only fair as when I've been confronted by the Saddam Is Evil justification for going into the war I've often thought so would my accuser be if he had to run that psychotic collection of grudges that is Iraq. Indeed that turns out to be the case.

However if Paul Bremner did not know, and approve, of this then I'm a Chinaman. And to take photographs! That's stupid, stupid, stupid. All par for the course for that neoconservative moron (I repeat myself) Bremner.

The British of course will be put at risk from this, and so the British government must react to distance themselves from this. Of course they won't - after all what is the live of a few British troops, or Londoners, when compared with Tony Blair sitting at some international top table or being called America's best friend. However this blog specialises in lamenting from the wilderness so this is what the British government should do.

First call for Bremner's resignation and arrest. We are not talking justice here, we are talking about colonial rule and that means that some people have to suffer for the metropolitan power's good. It may strike Americans as unfair, but they signed up for it, so tough. Bremner must be humiliated and shamed for the safety of Allied troops.

This call must not be in private, but in public. The aim is not to convince the Arabs that we don't resort to torture - but that the British are willing to break with America when America gets stupid. This is empty spin (apart from for Bremner - but then who care's about his career?) but our government is good at that.

Bremner will not get arrested of course but he will go home in disgrace and possibly symbolically early, then the Americans and the British can say that the whole torture thing was the fault of a few rogue operators - and that these things won't happen again. And get rid of those bloody cameras.

On another related note, what is one to make of the pictures of "torture" in the Daily Mirror. It is starting to appear as if these are indeed fakes (of course more compelling evidence of the authenticity may appear later), but who put them up to it?

The smart money should still be on some money hungry TA types who thought that a tabloid would pay big money. But my conspiracy minded brain finds the incredibly convenient timing to be suspicious. These photos came out almost immediately after the Americans were caught. Remember that the Yanks knew about their photos a fortnight in advance.

The motive is obvious, an intense jealousy of the way the "Brits are better" at this Empire lark (personally I think that's more luck than judgement, although the War Nerd disagrees). The means are the contacts that the American army has up and down our military hierachy - they could easily find some squaddies to put up to this sick stunt. And the oportunity, well the photos were mighty timely for a fake don't you think?

Minor Amendments

The Irish Presidency of the European Union has published a series of minor amendments to the draft Constitution, following clarification by "legal experts". These form a tidying up exercise and are designed to defuse any possible disagreements that may hold up a consensus at the next formal meeting of foreign ministers on the 17th May 2004.

These include such important reforms as:

cutting the number of seats for Romania in the European Parliament to 35;
clarifying relationships between various parts of the Commission, parliament and other institutions set up by the Constitution;
promoting parallelism (read agreement) between external agreements and internal legislation (surely this last is a given).

This new paper demonstrates that substantive disagreements on the draft Constitution are not publicised. They may be dormant or non-existent. It is clear that recent publicity on Britain's referendum has dulled the appetite of the Irish for further changes. There will be no further amendments unless an unexpected demand arises out of the official foreign ministers' meetings.

On a more sensible point, the Scottish National Party, have noticed the raw deal given to their fishermen and are unwilling to support a bad deal for Scotland. As Pat Cox, President of the European Parliament, stated, Scottish fishermen must be rolled over by the European bus for the greater good:

"If we all, region by region, sector by sector, said ‘stop the bus mate, we're getting off here, but we want to go on the rest of the journey when it suits us', we would have a chaotic scramble, an a la carte Europe, and a mess where none of us would ever with any predictive capacity, know what to influence, who to influence or how to gain, and we don't need that kind of Europe."

Next thing you know, they'll be demanding control over their own lives and livelihoods. Who knows where such radicalism could lead to....?

(22.50, 4th May 2004)

There is no debt

One of the underlying themes in the discussion of Enlargement, is the historical debt that the West owes to the East for having to live under forty years of communism. This debt is traced back to Yalta and the carve-up of the Europe into Soviet and Western spheres of influence.

The debt assumes two key points in the history of the late nineteen forties:that the West was capable of influencing or overthrowing Soviet control of Eastern Europe; and that there were satisfactory alternatives to the wartime alliance with Stalin. These key, historical, constraints undermine the argument that Poland or Czechoslovakia were geopolitical pawns, consciously thrown to the communist wolves.

A moral debt is a strong, political theme, continually embroidered and memorialised, in order to obtain advantages in negotiations. It is in the interests of the new Member States to mine this seam for as long as Western States are willing to favour such perceptions.

As an argument for enlarging the European Union, or for assessing Britain's interest in this expansion, moral debts have no place. They are not required. The EU should welcome new liberal democratic members that are willing to buy their goods, enter their regulated markets, and redress the socialist balance that the existing membership has created. Britain can welcome liberal leaning nations that will add to the Babel of Brussels, gum up the EU's workings, impede the integrationist ideology and provide a European voice for the nascent potato throwing nationalists.

The only argument that's 25:75 - is it in the interest of the new States to join? When you examine the raft of laws, taxes and regulations that render the acquis communautaire obese, the answer is probably not.

(19.43, 3rd May 2004)

Authenticity

In the last two days, the scandal over mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by Americans, has been overshadowed in this country by allegations made against the British Army. These, unsurprisingly, have been aired in the Daily Mirror where the publication of such stories has knowingly raised the temperature of the British occupation in southern Iraq, with all the attendant dangers for the troops:

In a statement, Mr Morgan said: ?There was clearly a small rogue element of soldiers who committed totally unacceptable acts against Iraqi civilians. Acts which have made our battle to win the hearts and minds of this country?s people so much more difficult.

?The Daily Mirror makes no apology for exposing this outrageous and unlawful behaviour, which has been common knowledge among disgusted British servicemen in Basra for many months.

Knowing the background and behaviour of British troops in other camps, the probability of excesses, human rights abuses and other behaviour is quite high. These events will occur during occupations, since abuses of power by the occupying forces can be policed but never fully prevented. That is a fact of life.

The authenticity of the photographs has been questioned and the veracity of certain details thrown into doubt: the type of gun used, the type of vehicle used and the clothing of the captives and soldiers. If this is the case, and the images have been faked, in order to undermine the British occupation and promote the left, then the media will have aided and abetted this effort by placing their wish to air the story above the risks faced by British soldiers. If the photos are authentic, or other allegations are proved, then justice must be seen in public to staunch the loss of morale and reduce the risks of Shi'a retaliation.

Whether the photos are genuine or faked, one course of action is clear: to investigate and resolve this confusion. Until this has taken place, it is not possible to come to any conclusion on this matter. The money quote is Colonel Bob Stewart's:

He said if it was real, those behind the captive's ordeal, or fake, those responsible for mocking it up, were responsible for extra casualties and deaths.

(20.14, 2nd May 2004)

EU Referendum Weblog

A new weblog, providing an orthodox Eurosceptic viewpoint, has been established recently and advertised on Samizdata and, no doubt, other websites. One of the principal contributors is Helen Szamuely.

Whilst still feeling its way, the weblog has started through links to relevant articles and reproducing some of these on its website. The writing is, as yet, more comment than analysis, though the writers will be hoping that the website will facilitate their byline: "To discuss issues arising in relation to the UK referendum on the constitutional treaty".

The weblog is worth reading, as it provides sources for a number of articles and stories. However, on the links front, Google News is not the blogosphere, and they are losing half the potential impact of their endeavour.

(16.11, 2nd May 2004)