“On August 4th, it was reported another attack occurred. It was not clear then that that attack had occurred. We made every possible effort to determine whether it had or not. I was in direct communication with the Commander-in-Chief of all of our forces in the Pacific (CINCPAC) by telephone several times during that day, to find out whether it had or hadn't occurred. He had reports from the commanders of the destroyers on the scene: they had what were known as sonar readings -- these are sound readings. There were eyewitness reports. And ultimately it was concluded that almost certainly the attack had occurred. But even at the time there was some recognition of a margin of error, so we thought it highly probable but not entirely certain. And because it was highly probable -- and because even if it hadn't occurred, there was strong feeling we should have responded to the first attack, which we were positive had occurred -- President Johnson decided to respond to the second [attack]. I think it is now clear [the second attack] did not occur. I asked [North Vietnamese] General Giap myself, when I visited Hanoi in November of 1995, whether it had occurred, and he said no. I accept that.” CNN Cold War – Interviews: Robert McNamara June 14th 2008
Ann Clwyd, ‘See men shredded, then say you don’t back war’, The Times , 18 March 2003 (former labour mp)
“It seems Clwyd based her story on the uncorroborated claims of one individual from northern Iraq. Neither Amnesty International nor Human Rights Watch, in their numerous investigations into human rights abuses in Iraq, had ever heard anyone talk of a human-shredding machine.” Brendan O’Neill, ‘The media’s tall tales over Iraq’, Guardian , 4 February 2010
“There is next to no doubt that chemical weapons were used in Ghouta in eastern Damascus, and that, unlike previous alleged attacks, they produced mass casualties. Whether the death toll is in the hundreds or over a thousand, as the rebels claim, this is one of the most significant chemical weapons attacks since Saddam Hussein's on the Kurds in Halabja 25 years ago, and an unmistakable challenge to the vow Barack Obama made a year ago that, if proved, the use of chemical or biological weapons would "change my calculus".” Editorial, ‘Syria: chemical weapons with impunity’, Guardian , 22 August 2013
“This, we are told, is what makes Israel a special case, uniquely deserving of hatred. This is what animates Livingstone’s long-held hostility to Israel and what lay behind Shah’s past call for the “transportation” – a word with a chilling resonance for Jews – of Israel to America.”
“The time to find out that Naz Shah was of the view that Israelis should be put on “transportation” to America, with all the chilling echoes that has for Jews” Andrew Rawnsley, ‘How the parties let the poison of racism seep back into our politics’, Guardian , 1 May 2016
“Naz by name, Nazi by nature, was revealed to have backed the transportation of Jews in Israel to the United States” Richard Littlejohn, ‘The fascists at the poisoned heart of Labour’, Daily Mail , 19 April 2016
“Mr Corbyn has now been leader for six months, and the only conclusion that can be drawn is that our fears were justified. Labour now seems to be a party that attracts antisemites like flies to a cesspit. Barely a week goes by without the identification of a racist party member or allegations of racist behaviour by those involved in the party. And the target of that racism seems always to be Jews.” Anonymous, ‘Labour’s shame’, Jewish Chronicle , 17 March 2016
“The dictatorship is living its last days and Maduro knows it," former MP Maria Corina Machado told AFP news agency at the women's march. "That's why there are these unprecedented levels of repression.”” Venezuela protests: Women march against Maduro’, BBC website, 6 May 2017
"Venezuela is now a dictatorship," says Luis Ugalde, a Spanish-born Jesuit priest who during his 60 years living in Venezuela has become one of the South American nation's most well-known political scientists.” Vanessa Buschschlüter, ‘Venezuela’s irreconcilable visions for the future’, BBC website, 22 May 2017
“But here it is necessary to be as hard on many of the opponents of war as on its proposers, as well as to clear away the misleading idea that evidence that Saddam is concealing weapons of mass destruction is at the centre of the argument. It is at the centre of the manoeuvring, yes, but not of the argument. Among those knowledgeable about Iraq there are few, if any, who believe he is not hiding such weapons. It is a given. We print accounts of them, with diagrams and charts, in our newspapers every day. That is why both the Americans and the British insist that it is not just a matter of the inspectors being able to go where they please, but of Iraq handing over the weapons that everybody knows they have.” Martin Woollacott, ‘This drive to war is one of the mysteries of our time’, Guardian , 24 January 2003
“Like them, I believe that Iran is trying to acquire the bomb.” George Monbiot, ‘The Middle East has had a secretive nuclear power in its midst for years’, Guardian , 20 November 2007
“John McDonnell was right to swiftly force Naz Shah's resignation - but now the party has to suspend her.” https://twitter.com/OwenJones84/status/725299599708160000
“Ken Livingstone has to be suspended from the Labour Party. Preferably before I pass out from punching myself in the face.” https://twitter.com/OwenJones84/status/725646692234715138
“Downing Street said the Heathrow deployment was "an ongoing operation in relation to a specific threat" personally authorised by the Prime Minister. Tony Blair's spokesman said: "The Government and the security authorities are taking whatever action they believe necessary to protect the public.”...
At Heathrow, troops from the 1st Battalion the Grenadier Guards and the Household Cavalry Regiment patrolled the airport complex. The convoys of army vehicles and police cars included several Scimitar armoured reconnaissance vehicles which spent short periods at the terminals and other sites. Soldiers, dressed in combat fatigues and carrying rifles, patrolled on foot in teams of two or three around the terminal buildings. Scimitars, which resemble small tanks” Troops patrol Heathrow after terror warning of 'missile attack on aircraft' Paul Peachey Wednesday 12 February 2003 The Independent
“That’s what’s been happening in the Labour party this week, as Tony Blair and others tried to sit the kids down and say: “Look, you’ve had your fun. But take it from us, even if Corbyn is right – which he isn’t – he is never, ever going to get elected. This crusade is doomed. Come back home.”” Jonathan Freedland, ‘The Corbyn tribe cares about identity, not power’, Guardian , 24 July 2015
“Corbyn fever has gripped the Labour leadership contest, amid warnings that they teeter on the verge of civil war. Suddenly the party that has been a reasonably friendly coalition through the Blair, Brown, Miliband years, begins to feel like the poisonous place it was in the early 80s. That’s when it split over toxic Militant entryism unchallenged by Michael Foot, its unelectable leader with a raft of impossibilist policies.” Polly Toynbee, ‘This was the week the Labour leadership contest turned nasty’, Guardian , 23 July 2015
“The Labour party can choose to be part of what is happening or it can further cut itself off. Right now they appear to be in the process known to post-Marxists as the “Nobody loves me. Everybody hates me. I am going down the garden to eat worms” stage. Meanwhile everyone else is getting on with it.” Suzanne Moore, ‘I could pay £3 to have a say, but why would I intrude on Labour’s private grief?’, Guardian , 22 July 2015
“What positive debate (as @robfordmancs just asked me) is served by having Corbyn on the ballot?” David Aaronovitch BBC 4 Radio Presenter https://twitter.com/DAaronovitch/status/610408642823761920
“Just as the Vikings and the Mayans brought about their own extinction by destroying the environment on which their cultures depended… so the Labour party is threatening its survival by abandoning electoral victory as a definition of success. If Labour chooses Jeremy Corbyn – a man who will never be elected prime minister – as leader next week, its end could be as brutal and sudden as those other once great tribes” Will a Corbyn victory be the end of Labour? 1st September 2015
Labour MUST dump vampire Jezza: If MPs don't vote for 'Jexit' now their party is doomed, says DAN HODGES By Dan Hodges, Mail on Sunday Jun 2016 (changed from Labour MUST kill vampire Jezza)
“He told the BBC’s The World at One: “I can understand why people are worried about whether some of the most senior editorial voices in the BBC have lost their impartiality on this”” Rowena Mason, ‘BBC may have shown bias against Corbyn, says former trust chair’, Guardian 12 May 2016 (Michael Lyons)
“A polarising president, Mr Bush sounds a lot better out of office than in it. His swipe at Donald Trump’s brand of populism may mark a turning point for Republicans. We hope so” Editorial, ‘The Guardian view on George W Bush: a welcome return’, Guardian , 27 February 2017
“It is almost impossible these days to get away from the winklepickered Jesus Clown who preaches revolution, so I won’t bother naming him as that only seems to annoy people” Suzanne Moore, ‘Russell Brand’s revolution or a meaningless two-party system? Politics should be about more than this’, Guardian, 15 October 2014
“Television news producers are as world-weary as any burnt-out celebrity. They want Brand to be their new Farage and draw hundreds of thousands to their failing programmes. I am not saying that there is not a need for a left populism to confront financial power and environmental degradation. But Brand is a religious narcissist, and if the British left falls for him, it will show itself to be beyond saving”
“Edward Snowden, a twenty-nine-year-old former C.I.A. employee and current government contractor, has leaked news of National Security Agency programs that collect vast amounts of information about the telephone calls made by millions of Americans, as well as e-mails and other files of foreign targets and their American connections. For this, some, including my colleague John Cassidy, are hailing him as a hero and a whistle-blower. He is neither. He is, rather, a grandiose narcissist who deserves to be in prison.” Jeffrey Toobin, ‘Edward Snowden is no hero’, New Yorker , 10 June 2013
“The unkind reading of this is to suggest that support for Corbynism, especially among the young, is a form of narcissism.”
“In his malignancy, mendacity and hypocrisy, in his narcissism and anti-patriotism, he is betraying not only the history of the Labour Party but the basic values of this country” Dominic Sandbrook, ‘Putin’s useful idiots: Warped, deluded, ignorant. Corbyn’s support for Russia shames his party and his country’, Daily Mail , 13 October 2016
“Sultan had a reputation for a fierce temper but his habit of working deep into the night won him the nickname of "bulbul" – nightingale. He was both a conservative and political moderate. "Sultan," wrote Holden, "whose vigour on the couch was a cause for even more concern and respect, had proved a stern, tough and headstrong character.””Trevor Mostyn, ‘Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz obituary’, Guardian , 23 October 2011
“The death of one of Latin America's most egotistical, bombastic and polarising leaders was announced on television by Vice-president Nicolas Maduro” David Usborne, ‘Death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez leaves tears – and a nation divided’, Independent , 6 March 2013
“Harding, who is Jewish, will also have to leave behind the pro-Israeli line of the Times. In a debate at the Jewish Community Centre For London in 2011, Harding said "I am pro-Israel" and that in reporting on the Middle East, "I haven't found it too hard" because "the Times has been pro-Israel for a long time"” Lisa O’Carroll, ‘James Harding: ex-Times editor could become the story at the BBC’, Guardian , 16 April 2013
“A four-month ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza was in jeopardy today after Israeli troops killed six Hamas gunmen in a raid into the territory…
The attack comes shortly before a key meeting this Sunday in Cairo when Hamas and its political rival Fatah will hold talks on reconciling their differences and creating a single, unified government. It will be the first time the two sides have met at this level since fighting a near civil war more than a year ago.” Rory McCarthy, ‘Gaza truce broken as Israeli raid kills six Hamas gunmen’, Guardian , 5 November 2008
“four days into Israel’s eight-day assault on the Gaza Strip, deputy Israeli Prime Minister Eli Yishai publicly called for the Israeli army to “blow Gaza back to the Middle Ages, destroying all the infrastructure including roads and water”” The ‘Flattening’ of Gaza Relief Web UN 26 Dec 2012
“There is no middle path here – either the Gazans and their infrastructure are made to pay the price, or we reoccupy the entire Gaza Strip… flatten entire neighbourhoods in Gaza. Flatten all of Gaza. The Americans didn’t stop with Hiroshima – the Japanese weren’t surrendering fast enough, so they hit Nagasaki, too.
There should be no electricity in Gaza, no gasoline or moving vehicles, nothing. Then they’d really call for a ceasefire” A decisive conclusion is necessary By GILAD SHARON NOVEMBER 18, 2012 Jerusalem Post
“It seems to me that the moment has come when the question of bombing of German cities simply for the sake of increasing the terror, though under other pretexts, should be reviewed. Otherwise we shall come into control of an utterly ruined land. We shall not, for instance, be able to get housing materials out of Germany for our own needs because some temporary provision would have to be made for the Germans themselves. The destruction of Dresden remains a serious query against the conduct of Allied bombing. I am of the opinion that military objectives must henceforward be more strictly studied in our own interests rather than that of the enemy. The Foreign Secretary has spoken to me on this subject, and I feel the need for more precise concentration upon military objectives, such as oil and communications behind the immediate battle-zone, rather than on mere acts of terror and wanton destruction, however impressive” International Churchill Society Education – Bombing Germany: Again - - Dresden: The World War Two bombing 75 years on By Toby Luckhurst BBC News 13 February 2020
“GAZA CITY — The four Bakr boys were young cousins, the children of Gaza fishermen who had ordered them to stay indoors — and especially away from the beach. But cooped up for nine days during Israeli bombardments, the children defied their parents and went out Wednesday afternoon, the eldest shooing away his little brother, telling him it was too dangerous.
As they played on and around a jetty in the late-afternoon sun, a blast hit a nearby shack. One boy was killed instantly. The others ran. There was a second blast, and three more bodies littered the sand. One was charred, missing a leg, and another lay motionless, his curly head intact, his legs splayed at unnatural angles.
The Israeli military acknowledged later that it had launched the strike, which it said was aimed at Hamas militants, and called the civilian deaths “a tragic outcome.”
The four dead boys came quickly to symbolize how the Israeli aerial assaults in Gaza are inevitably killing innocents in this crowded, impoverished sliver of land along the Mediterranean Sea. They stood out because they were inarguably blameless, children who simply wanted to play on their favorite beach, near the fishing port where their large extended family keeps its boats” Anne Barnard, ‘Boys drawn to Gaza Beach, and into center of Mideast strife’, New York Times , 16 July 2014
“Production increased by more than 40% since BP joined partnership to redevelop Rumaila oilfield in 2010
Oil production rate highest in 27 years
Around $200 billion generated for the Iraqi economy” BP Global press release, ‘Rumaila oilfield achieves 3 billion barrel production landmark’, 20 December 2016
“it was Yugoslavia’s resistance to the broader trends of political and economic reform – not the plight of Kosovar Albanians – that best explains NATO’s war” John Norris, Collision Course: NATO, Russia, and Kosovo , Praeger, 2005 - Wiki
“Amnesty International also criticised the response of the African Union to the unfolding crisis, which has seen hundreds killed and persistent reports of mercenaries being brought in from African countries by the Libyan leader to violently suppress the protests against him.” Amnesty Press Release, ‘Security Council and African Union failing Libyan people’, 23 February 2011 Page 1
“In November 2011, Amnesty International-USA appointed Suzanne Nossel as its executive director. From August 2009 to November 2011, Nossel had been the US State Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of International Organization Affairs.” Quote from book - Suzanne Nossel
"One of America's most senior diplomats claimed at the United Nations security council that Muammar Gaddafi is supplying his troops with Viagra to encourage mass rape, according to diplomats… A UN diplomat at the closed session on Thursday said: "I was in the room when she mentioned Viagra. The remark did not cause a stir at the time. It was during a discussion about whether there is moral equivalence between the Gaddafi forces and the rebels. She listed human rights abuses by Gaddafi's forces, including snipers shooting children in the street and the Viagra story." Gaddafi ‘supplies troops with Viagra to encourage mass rape’, claims diplomat US ambassador Susan Rice The Guardian Fri 29 Apr 2011
“If we waited one more day, Benghazi ... could suffer a massacre that would have reverberated across the region and stained the conscience of the world.” March 28, 2011 Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation on Libya White House
“Not to respond to Gaddafi's chilling threats would leave us morally culpable, but action in Libya is fraught with danger” Jonathan Freedland, ‘Though the risks are very real, the case for intervention remains strong’, Guardian , 22 March 2011
“Unlike Bahrain or Yemen, the scale and nature of the Gaddafi regime's actions have impelled the UN's 'responsibility to protect’” Brian Whitaker, ‘The difference with Libya’, Guardian , 23 March 2011
“The experience of Iraq should not make us deaf to Libyan calls for international support” Menzies Campbell and Phillipe Sands, ‘Our duty to protect the Libyan people’, Guardian , 9 March 2011
“I was never in favour of this war mainly because of the threats of terrorism or WMDs. Getting rid of Saddam (and therefore the myriad afflictions of the Iraqi people) was enough…
These claims cannot be wished away in the light of a successful war. If nothing is eventually found, I - as a supporter of the war - will never believe another thing that I am told by our government, or that of the US ever again. And, more to the point, neither will anyone else. Those weapons had better be there somewhere” David Aaronovitch, ‘Those weapons had better be there ...’, Guardian , 29 April 2003
“There is no perfect formula for military intervention. It must be used sparingly — not in Bahrain or Yemen, even though we condemn the violence against protesters in both countries. Libya is a specific case: Muammar el-Qaddafi is erratic, widely reviled, armed with mustard gas and has a history of supporting terrorism. If he is allowed to crush the opposition, it would chill pro-democracy movements across the Arab world” Editorial Board, ‘At war in Libya’, New York Times , 21 March 2011
“But it can now reasonably be said that in narrow military terms it worked, and that politically there was some retrospective justification for its advocates as the crowds poured into the streets of Tripoli to welcome the rebel convoys earlier this week. The argument that we had foolishly gone in on one side in a civil war must be weakened by such scenes” Editorial, ‘Foreign policy: intervention after Libya’, Guardian , 23 August 2011
“And after all the waiting, the killing and the tears, the wheel of history turned inexorably, and all who watched knew it would never turn back. The Arab spring had claimed another infamous scalp. The risky western intervention had worked. And Libya was liberated at last.” Simon Tisdall, ‘Muammar Gaddafi’s violent death leaves Libya at a crossroads’, Guardian , 20 October 2011
“If Libya doesn't build on what's been achieved, then that's Libya's tragedy, not ours… The motives of Cameron and Sarkozy, as they first ordered their planes into action, seemed more humanitarian and emotional than cynically calculated. There was no urgent reason in realpolitik to oust Gaddafi as winter passed. His last 10 years in power had been quieter than his first berserk three decades. Labour home secretaries spooned his soup and drank his wine. Tony Blair embraced him. Libya's oil contracts were not at issue (just as they aren't today). The survival of Gaddafi's regime may have been a moral affront, but it was one among many. No: what sent British jets across the Mediterranean was a perceived need to save lives…
The number of civilian casualties inflicted by the airstrikes seems to have been mercifully light” Editorial, ‘An honourable intervention. A hopeful future’, Observer , 28 August 2011
“The war in Iraq would undo Tony Blair, they cried. It would be his Suez on the Tigris, they said. Wrong. It would be Vietnam crossed with Stalingrad. Wrong. To win the war, the Anglo-American forces could only prevail by inflicting casualties numbered in their hundreds of thousands. The more extravagantly doom-laden predictions had the deaths in millions. Wrong.” Andrew Rawnsley, ‘The voices of doom were so wrong’, Observer , 13 April 2003
“One lesson – a rather familiar tutorial this – is that conventional wisdom is often wrong. We were told that it would be impossible to get a UN resolution – and one was secured. We were told that Arab support would not stay solid – and, by and large, it did. We were told, as recently as 10 days ago, that the campaign was stuck in a stalemate which exposed the folly of David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy in pursuing the enterprise. So much for the wisdom of the conventional.” Andrew Rawnsley, ‘The right and the wrong lessons to draw from Libya’s liberation’, Observer , 28 August 2011
Nick Robinson, BBC ‘News at Six’, 20 October 2011
“Mr Blair is well aware that all his critics out there in the party and beyond aren’t going to thank him – because they’re only human – for being right when they’ve been wrong.” Andrew Marr, BBC ‘News at Ten’, 9 April 2003
“Mr Cameron took risks on Libya – but they paid off. The critics he calls "the armchair generals" were sceptical about securing a UN resolution to allow intervention; they doubted a no-fly zone would topple the dictator and feared being sucked into an Iraq-style civil war. Working closely with France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, Mr Cameron proved the doubters wrong.” Andrew Grice, ‘Vindication for Cameron over the “armchair generals”’, Independent , 20 October 2011
“his death vindicates the swift action of David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy in halting the attack on Benghazi” Editorial, ‘This grim end should serve as a warning’, Telegraph , 20 October 2011
“It is surely a matter for quiet national pride that an Arab Srebrenica was prevented by a coalition in which Britain played an important part” Matthew d’Ancona, ‘Libya is Cameron’s chance to exorcise the ghost of Iraq’, Telegraph , 26 March 2011 (Telegraph, Spectator, Guardian, NYT etc columnist)
“Concern was real enough that a Srebrenica-style massacre could unfold in Benghazi, and the UK Government was right to insist that we would not allow this.”
“Since the revolution three years ago that overthrew Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, about 1.8 million Libyans — nearly a third of the country’s population — have fled to Tunisia. A new wave of refugees has arrived in recent months as fighting has engulfed the Libyan capital, Tripoli, driven away by random shelling and shooting, as well as shortages of cash, electricity and fuel.” Carlotta Gall, ‘Libyan refugees stream to Tunisia for care, and tell of a home that is torn apart’, New York Times , 9 September 2014
“All of the migrants spoke of being subjected to random brutality, not only from the Libyan army, police and militias, but also ordinary citizens intent on robbing them of what little money they had managed to earn from casual work or by borrowing from their families to fund their quest to reach Europe.
"Everyone in Libya is armed now," said Djiby Diop, a 20-year-old from Senegal who spent three months in Libya dodging gunmen."Every guy of my age has a gun," he said, speaking in French. "If you don't work for them, they shoot you. If you don't give them all your money, they shoot you. Or they shoot you just for fun. Or they will throw you in prison and you have to pay 400 dinars (£200) to get released.”” Nick Squires, ‘Migrants tell of deepening chaos in Libya: “Everyone is armed now”’, Telegraph , 22 February 2015
“In 2014, the most recent year for which reliable figures are available, Libya generated $41.14 billion of gross domestic product and the average Libyan’s annual income had decreased from $12,250 in 2010 to $7,820.28 Since 2014, Libya’s economic predicament has reportedly deteriorated. Libya is likely to experience a budget deficit of some 60% of GDP in 2016. The requirement to finance that deficit is rapidly depleting net foreign reserves, which halved from $107 billion in 2013 to $56.8 billion by the end of 2015. Production of crude oil fell to its lowest recorded level in 2015, while oil prices collapsed in the second half of 2014. Inflation increased to 9.2% driven by a 13.7% increase in food prices including a fivefold increase in the price of flour.29 The United Nations ranked Libya as the world’s 94th most advanced country in its 2015 index of human development, a decline from 53rd place in 2010.
30 In 2016, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that out of a total Libyan population of 6.3 million, 3 million people have been impacted by the armed conflict and political instability, and that 2.4 million people require protection and some form of humanitarian assistance.
31 In its World Report 2016, Human Rights Watch stated that Libya is heading towards a humanitarian crisis, with almost 400,000 people internally displaced and increasing disruption to basic services, such as power and fuel supplies. Forces engaged in the conflict continued with impunity to arbitrarily detain, torture, unlawfully kill, indiscriminately attack, abduct and disappear, and forcefully displace people from their homes. The domestic criminal justice system collapsed in most parts of the country, exacerbating the human rights
crisis.
32. People-trafficking gangs exploited the lack of effective government after 2011, making Libya a key transit route for illegal migration into Europe and the location of a migrant crisis.
33 In addition to other extremist militant groups, ISIL emerged in Libya in 2014, seizing control of territory around Sirte and setting up terrorist training centres. Human Rights Watch documented unlawful executions by ISIL in Sirte of at least 49 people by methods including decapitation and shootings” House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Libya: Examination of intervention and collapse and the UK’s future policy options Third Report of Session 2016–17 Report, together with formal minutes relating to the report Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 6 September 2016 Page 8
“Despite his rhetoric, the proposition that Muammar Gaddafi would have ordered
the massacre of civilians in Benghazi was not supported by the available evidence. The Gaddafi regime had retaken towns from the rebels without attacking civilians in early February 2011.
72 During fighting in Misrata, the hospital recorded 257 people killed and 949 people wounded in February and March 2011. Those casualties included 22 women and eight children.
73 Libyan doctors told United Nations investigators that Tripoli’s morgues contained more than 200 corpses following fighting in late February 2011, of whom two
were female.
74 The disparity between male and female casualties suggested that Gaddafi regime forces targeted male combatants in a civil war and did not indiscriminately attack civilians. More widely, Muammar Gaddafi’s 40-year record of appalling human rights abuses did not include large-scale attacks on Libyan civilians.” House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Libya: Examination of intervention and collapse and the UK’s future policy options Third Report of Session 2016–17 Report, together with formal minutes relating to the report Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 6 September 2016 Page 14
“38. We have seen no evidence that the UK Government carried out a proper analysis of the nature of the rebellion in Libya. It may be that the UK Government was unable to analyse the nature of the rebellion in Libya due to incomplete intelligence and insufficient institutional insight and that it was caught up in events as they developed. It could not verify the actual threat to civilians posed by the Gaddafi regime; it selectively took elements of Muammar Gaddafi’s rhetoric at face value; and it failed to identify the militant Islamist extremist element in the rebellion. UK strategy was founded on erroneous assumptions and an incomplete understanding of the evidence” House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Libya: Examination of intervention and collapse and the UK’s future policy options Third Report of Session 2016–17 Report, together with formal minutes relating to the report Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 6 September 2016 Page 15
“When I was asked by the prime minister (David Cameron) to make a judgment on how long it might take to depose, regime change, get rid of Gaddafi” Baron Richards of Herstmonceux, ‘UK military chief criticises Libya decision’, BBC website, 14 September 2016
“The UN resolution is limited in its scope. It explicitly does not provide legal authority for action to bring about Gaddafi’s removal from power by military means. But we will continue to implement a wide range of tough sanctions designed to put pressure on the regime towards that end.” PM statement to the House on Libya
“Libya has some of the biggest and most proven oil reserves – 43.6 billion barrels – outside Saudi Arabia, and some of the best drilling prospects” Steven Mufson, ‘Conflict in Libya: U.S. oil companies sit on sidelines as Gaddafi maintains hold’, Washington Post , 10 June 2011
“But Bill Richardson, the former US energy secretary who served as US ambassador to the UN, is probably right when he says: "There's another interest, and that's energy... Libya is among the 10 top oil producers in the world. You can almost say that the gas prices in the US going up have probably happened because of a stoppage of Libyan oil production... So this is not an insignificant country, and I think our involvement is justified.””Johann Hari, ‘We’re not being told the truth on Libya’, Independent , 7 April 2011
Libya needs to exploit its hydrocarbon resources to provide for its rapidly-growing, relatively young population. To do so, it requires extensive foreign investment and
participation by credible IOCs. Reformist elements in the Libyan government and the small but growing private sector
recognize this reality. But those who dominate Libya's political and economic leadership are pursuing increasingly
nationalistic policies in the energy sector that could jeopardize efficient exploitation of Libya's extensive oil and gas reserves. Effective U.S. engagement on this issue should take the form of demonstrating the clear downsides to the GOL of pursuing this approach, particularly with respect to attracting participation by credible international oil companies in the
oil/gas sector and foreign direct investment.” Leaked cable, WikiLeaks, ‘GROWTH OF RESOURCE NATIONALISM IN LIBYA’, 15 November 2007
"According to sensitive information available to this these individuals, Qaddafi's government holds 143 tons of gold, and a similar amount in silver… This gold was accumulated prior to the current rebellion and was intended to be used to establish a pan-African currency based on the Libyan golden Dinar. This plan was designed to provide the Francophone African Countries with an alternative to the French.franc (CFA). (Source Comment: According to knowledgeable individuals this quantity of gold and silver is valued at more than $7 billion. French intelligence officers discovered this plan shortly after the current rebellion began, and this was one of the
factors that influenced President Nicolas Sarkozy's decision to commit France to the attack on Libya. According to these individuals Sarkozy's plans are driven by the following issues:
a. A desire to gain a greater share of Libya oil production,
b. Increase French influence in North Africa,
c. Improve his intemai political situation in France,
d. Provide the French military with an opportunity to reassert its position in the world,
e. Address the concern of his advisors over Qaddafi's long term plans to supplant France as the dominant power in Francophone Africa)" U.S. Department of State Case No. F-2014-20439 Doc No. C05779612 Date: 12/31/2015, Email Between Hillary Clinton And Sidney Blumenthal, April 2, 2011
“There is, of course, supposed to be a ceasefire, which the brutal Assad regime simply ignores. And the international community? It just averts its gaze. Will you do the same? Or will the sickening fate of these innocent children make you very, very angry” Independent on Sunday , 27 May 2012, archived cover SYRIA: THE WORLD LOOKS THE OTHER WAY. WILL YOU?
“In the aftermath of the massacre at Houla last month, initial reports said some of the 49 children and 34 women killed had their throats cut. In Damascus, western officials told me the subsequent investigation revealed none of those found dead had been killed in such a brutal manner. Moreover, while Syrian forces had shelled the area shortly before the massacre, the details of exactly who carried out the attacks, how and why were still unclear … In Houla, and now in Qubair, the finger has been pointed at the shabiha, pro-government militia. But tragic death toll aside, the facts are few: it’s not clear who ordered the killings – or why” Jon Williams, ‘Reporting conflict in Syria’, BBC website, 7 June 2012
“First, that the perpetrators were Shabbiha or other local militia from neighbouring villages, possibly operating together with, or with the acquiescence of, the Government security forces; second, that the perpetrators were anti-Government forces seeking to escalate the conflict while punishing those that failed to support – or who actively opposed – the rebellion; or third, foreign groups with unknown affiliation…
With the available evidence, the CoI [Commission of Inquiry] could not rule out any of these possibilities” Oral Update of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, Human Rights Council Twentieth session Agenda item 4 Human, 26 June 2012 Page 10
“Western Officials say they are picking up new signs of activity at sites in Syria that are used to store chemical weapons. The officials are uncertain whether Syrian forces might be preparing to use the weapons in a last-ditch effort to save the government, or simply sending a warning to the West about the implications of providing more help to the Syrian rebels” Flow of Arms to Syria Through Iraq Persists, to U.S. Dismay By Michael R. Gordon Eric Schmitt and Tim Arango
“that the [Syrian] regime is considering unleashing chemical weapons on opposition forces.” Matt Williams and Martin Chulov, ‘Barack Obama warns Syria of chemical weapons “consequences”’, Guardian, 3 December 2012
“Was there an element of political spin here to accompany NATO’s decision to deploy patriot missiles in Turkey? Sources contacted by the BBC say that there are indications of activity at certain chemical weapons storage sites. However it is of course impossible to determine if this is a preliminary to the weapons’ use or, as some analysts believe, much more likely, the movement of munitions to ensure their security. Indeed such movement has been noted in the past” Jonathan Marcus, ‘Fears grow for fate of Syria’s chemical weapons’, BBC website, 5 December 2012
“Assad’s government gassed to death over a thousand people ...We know the Assad regime was responsible ... And that is why, after careful deliberation, I determined that it is in the national security interests of the United States to respond to the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons through a targeted military strike” Barack Obama, ‘President Obama’s Sept. 10 speech on Syria’, Washington Post , 10 September 2013
“And we almost certainly know who did it. Every sign points to the regime of Bashar al-Assad” Jonathan Freedland, ‘Inaction over Syria has exacted a terrible price’, Guardian , 5 April 2017
“But what we do say is that the international community has an avowed responsibility to protect and that protection must be exerted. If that means confronting Russian air power defensively, on behalf of the innocent people on the ground who we are trying to protect, then we should do that.”
Mitchell added that “you would certainly use Nato aircraft” to enforce the no-fly zone. “It’s not a declaration of war against Russia but it is an absolute declaration that we will seek to protect the innocent victims of these war crimes.”” Patrick Wintour, ‘West must confront Russia over Aleppo, emergency Commons debate to hear’, Guardian , 11 October 2016 (Andrew Mitchell UK MP)
There is no other country that comes close to that record of belligerence; not the Americans, not the French, not even the Romans. These days, of course, we have not the slightest intention of invading or conquering anyone – not least after the unhappy experience of the Iraq war. All we want is to do our very considerable best to help keep the world safe; and our American friends are, of course, right to think that our defence budgets – like those around Europe – are under strain… But their role is much more important than that. As our American friends instinctively understand, it is the existence of strong and well-resourced British Armed Forces that gives this country the ability to express and affirm our values overseas: of freedom, democracy, tolerance, pluralism. “ Boris Johnson, ‘If we want to be taken seriously, we have to defend ourselves’, Telegraph , 16 February 2015
“As time has gone by, I am afraid I have become more and more cynical about the venture. It looks to me as though the Americans were motivated by a general strategic desire to control one of the biggest oil exporters in the world, as well as to remove Saddam, an unpleasant pest who had earlier attempted to murder the elder Bush. Blair went in fundamentally because he (rightly) thought it was in Britain’s long-term interest to be closely allied with America,” Boris Johnson, ‘Blair’s Iraq invasion was a tragic error, and he’s mad to deny it’, Telegraph , 15 June 2014
“Britain will support the Saudi-led assault on Yemeni rebels “in every practical way short of engaging in combat”, the Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, said on Friday.” Peter Foster and Almigdad Mojalli, ‘UK “will support Saudi-led assault on Yemeni rebels – but not engaging in combat”’, Telegraph , 27 March 2015
“Apart from maintaining traditional links on military and intelligence cooperation, Mr Jubeir also said post-Brexit Britain could look forward to forging new trade links with the kingdom as Saudi Arabia embarks on its ambitious plan to restructure its economy under a plan called Saudi Vision 2030. ‘We are looking at more than $2 trillion worth of investment opportunities over the next decade, and this will take the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Britain to an entirely new level post-Brexit”
“Given a choice, do we really think that the suffering civilians of Sierra Leone would object to a military presence by the British?” David Aaronovitch, ‘It’s because we’re rich that we must impose peace for others’, Independent , 25 March 1999
“Is this cause, the cause of the Kosovar Albanians, a cause that is worth suffering for? ... Would I fight, or (more realistically) would I countenance the possibility that members of my family might die? … I think so” David Aaronovitch, ‘My country needs me and the cause is worth fighting for’, Independent , 6 April 1999
“For a fair-minded progressive the call should not be Stop the War. That slogan is now irrelevant and harmful. The requirement is surely to win the peace ... So on Sunday, instead of listening to the same old tired stuff about cowboys with rockets and selective horror stories from Mazar; instead of marching along with mouth open and ears closed (however comforting that can be); instead of indulging yourself in a cosmic whinge, why not do something that might help the people of Afghanistan” David Aaronovitch, ‘Stop trying to stop the war, Start trying to win the peace’, Independent , 16 November 2001
“I want him out, for the sake of the region (and therefore, eventually, for our sakes), but most particularly for the sake of the Iraqi people who cannot lift this yoke on their own” David Aaronovitch, ‘Why the Left must tackle the crimes of Saddam: With or without a second UN resolution, I will not oppose action against Iraq’, Observer , 2 February 2003
“I say we could arm the rebels so that they can defend themselves from the weapons supplied by the Russians. And I argue for safe havens inside Syrian territory for civilians and have to agree that this may well require military action to deal with Syrian air defences” ‘Remember Bosnia, seedbed of radical Islam; The people of Syria wonder why the West will not help’, The Times , 31 May 2012
“We must do everything short of putting boots on the ground to help the Kurds to defend themselves against Isis and similar groups” David Aaronovitch, ‘Forget the past. Iraqi Kurds need our help now; The 2003 invasion is irrelevant to what is happening in Mosul now. What matters is preventing the advance of Isis’, The Times, 12 June 2014
“Perhaps most crucially of all, Britain and the United States have provided Saudi Arabia with diplomatic cover. Last year [2015], Britain and the United States helped to block a Dutch initiative at the UN Human Rights Council for an independent investigation into violations of international humanitarian law” Ian Johnston, ‘Anger as Saudi Arabia blocks UN inquiry into “war crimes” in Yemen’, Independent , 1 October 2015
Nicholas Wilson, ‘Amber Rudd shuts down my speech about HSBC and Saudi Arabia’, YouTube, 4 June 2017; www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEcMW6RmC_w
Unverified Sources
“Today we have to admit that we have no evidence that Gaddafi employed mercenary forces ... we have no sign nor evidence to corroborate these rumors” Genevieve Garrigos, President of Amnesty International France
“But to Jeremy Corbyn, the man who polls say will be the next Labour leader, Karl Marx is still a hero. He said yesterday: ‘We all owe something to him.’ Corbyn doesn’t want to take Labour back to its Bennite years in the 1980s. He wants to turn the clock back to 1917 and the Russian revolution” Marxed man,’ The Sun, July 27, 2015
Medical insurance for 500 BBC bosses’, Telegraph , 12 March 2012