Israel’s Golden Gift

By Hussein Al-alak

18 July, 2014
Countercurrents.org

Israel has given a golden gift to the British Anti-War and Left Wing movements, by carrying out its actions against the Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

As a result of the bombardment of Palestinians by the Israeli’s, the global focus of attention has now been diverted away from Iraq and Syria, and refocused itself on the ongoing conflict between the two waring sides.

Fortunately, for those involved in either British Anti-War or Left Wing politics, Israel’s actions have provided the golden opportunity for them to no longer be concerned by the crisis in Iraq, or infact show any concern for the welfare of Iraq’s citizens, at the hands of ISIS, the global Jihadist organisation.

But that’s nothing new, as in reality Iraq is far to complex for them and its not the first time the welfare of the Iraqi people, has been dropped by the self-appointed“vanguard” of British proletariat.

Historically, Iraq was never a sexy subject to begin with, as during the 1980’s, when Iraqi’s in the UK were campaigning, lobbying and protesting against the use of chemical weapons, along with the dissapearence of political opponents, few among the British left had enough insight to stand with those protesting against repression.

During the first Gulf War, the Left Wing took to the streets under the banner of “No War For Oil”, in opposition to Britain’s military involvement against Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait but unsurprisingly, those protests soon dried up after the failure of the 1991 uprising against Saddam, and when the UN imposed their devastating sanctions.

In the decade running up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Britain’s left wing took a highly underactive role against the killing of 5.000 Iraqi children per month, whose lives were cut short by embargo related causes.

The same political confusion occurred in the run up to the invasion of Iraq, where many left wing and Anti-War commentators hid behind slogans of “Imperialism” and “Peace”, in substitute to actual events and political changes inside of Iraq, which resulted in a climate of ignorance in the post invasion period.

This ignorance was shown with distinctive characteristics, by the Left Wing failure to adequately oppose De-Baathification policies, which essentially destroyed Iraqi state infrastructure and opened up the door to an Apartheid system of Government, which directly discriminated against anyone, who held a Civil Service position under Saddam Hussain’s 35 year rule.

The same level of ignorance was also applied to the ethnic cleansing of religious and cultural minorities in Iraq.

From 2003 through to the present, while many on the British Left Wing have given public support to movements, which include hard lined Shi’ite and Sunni groups, no consistent political, or practical, support has ever been provided to Iraq’s orphans, widows, refugee’s, Christians, LGBT or secular civil rights movements.

In recent weeks, with the crisis which has befallen Iraq, and the upsurge in ISIS related violence, Iraq became the focus of many media articles, which mostly stated that the Anti-War movement was right to oppose the 2003 war.

While in essence this political sentiment is right, in reality, the needs and demands of the Iraqi people have been lost among the self-aggrandizing of Britain’s Left Wing. For years, few voices have been concerned by the lack of security along Iraq’s borders with Syria, which the UN stated last year, the conflicts are “merging into one”.

Fewer voices have been concerned by the humanitarian plight of Iraqi’s displaced in Mosul, Kirkuk and Tikrit, or in the physical and psychological injuries of those caught up in the crisis. Never mind the rising costs of living, being incurred in a country, which until 2003, had a welfare state and functioning ration system.

But if the current Leftist mantra is to be believed, that the violence in Iraq is a product of a “failed state”, created by Sykes-Picot decades ago, with the occasional reference to Gertrude Bell, to add a questionable credibility, this surely must then pose a question for anyone involved with Britain’s Left Wing: when were you last in Iraq, without the escort of a British armed guard?

Hussein Al-Alak is a British based journalist and is chairman of the Iraq Solidarity Campaign UK. Hussein is also a member of the Royal British Legion and a mental health advocate for Combat Stress. You can follow him on Twitter @TotallyHussein. He blogs at http://totallyhussein.blogspot.co.uk

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