Liberal Imperialism
by Mark Thomas


  How Blair must wish those initials WMD would slip out of public consciousness. How he must
wish those initials could join the ranks of those abbreviations now barely recalled, their use
a sign of aging, like OMD or TTFN. How he must wish WMD had the same grip on the public
imagination as those initials IDS. So who is to blame for the false reports on WMD? This is a
hard one, I don't rightly know who I mistrust more, Blair or the security services. There
hasn't been this much evenhanded contempt and hatred in my life since the Hamilton's took
Fayed to court.


Rarely, though has a dossier gone from being "sexed up" to "fucked up" so quickly. Saddam
could launch a WMD attack in 45 minutes, the dossier famously bellowed, as if he was even more
dastardly now that he had bio warfare scuds in kit form. Maybe they were in a flat pack which
explains why they were never assembled in time. As the Americans and British invaded Saddam
had the instructions spread over the palace living room floor frantically muttering that "they
never look like they do in the picture." Maybe Saddam, allan key in hand, promised "The mother
of all battles ... just as soon as I find those two dowling pins. "


The 45 minute from apocalypse story was only a small part of Blair and Bush's deceptions.
There was the plagiarised students thesis based upon out of date information that was
downloaded from the internet and passed off as intelligence. The evidence of Saddam Hussein's
links with uranium and Niger turned out to be a bad forgery according to Mohamed ElBaradei
from the IAEA. If the evidence was not "sexed up" for political reasons we can only assume
that the security services is staffed by the cast of "The Office" or a bunch of lads from
Ilford frantically trying to finish their work after a lunchtime session on a Friday. Giggling
and jacketless, shouting "Oi Tel I've found this students stuff on the net." "Bung it in ,
Bung it in oo's gonna know. Its Saddam innit, e's a fucka. So it's probly true an' if it ain't
it should be." Claims of the existence of Iraq's WMD are now so discredited that even if the
US does actually find them they will have to announce the story in the National Inquirer ,
alongside headlines of Elvis sightings and " 18 stone trout made love to Liz Taylor all Night
long!"


Then to cap it all John Reid appears and blames "rogue elements". Why they choose Reid to
represent the government is a mystery. No one trusts him as he looks like he just been
released under the Good Friday Agreement and behaves as if he shouldn't have been.


None of this matters to the "liberal imperialists". The fact that the US and UK public have
been lied to, deceived, manipulated and ignored is a minor one. That Saddam's threat to the
West was inflated is irrelevant. Who cares if the war is illegal! Who cares if Al Qaeda have
had the biggest recruiting drive ever! Or if Iraq is a staging post for US empire, leading to
Iran! Let the dead Iraqi civilians be the stepping stones to liberation in Syria! Let us
rejoice that Saddam is gone, let us cheer in the rubble and broken water pipes, in the debt
and looted hospitals, as Western governments strut pretending to solve the problems they have
created.


"Liberal imperialism" is not a philosophy it is an excuse , if it was then North Korea should
be "liberated" and that isn't going to happen for one very good reason which is that they
actually have WMD.


Those living under undemocratic regimes who face daily human rights abuse from Saudi Arabia,
the Achea province, Colombia, Turkey, Burma and other states that don't quite fall into Bush
and Blair's care list are the unseen victims. On the 30th of May Aung San Suu Kyi the leader
of Burma's National League for Democracy was attacked, injured and arrested by the
dictatorships version of the Hitler Youth. A massacre occurred, it appears from eyewitness
accounts that between 60-100 people were killed. The NLD offices across the country have been
shut. What does our noble government who believe so heartily in democracy do? They sign a mild
condemnation of the regime by the EU, the political equivalent of someone clearing their
throat.


Burmese people have called for trade sanctions, but that would be acting in solidarity with
people, rather than the patronizing self interest so exemplified by Bush and Blair. It is
ironic that our "democratic" government is such a bad role model for the democratic
aspirations of Burma. I guess that is the problem with democracy, we have let the politicians
control it, which is like leaving the monks in charge of the lubricant.... alright bad example
but you get the idea.