The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 26th March 2004
Israel opens the gates of Hell! - The funeral
of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin
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Lead
BLAIR:FOR LABOUR’S SAKE GO!
by Daphne Liddle
THE PRESS
last Friday was speculating that Blair might opt for a snap general election
in October. It would be a big risk. Blair’s popularity has plummeted over
the Iraq war, continuing privatisations, university top-up fees and foundation
hospitals.
But from Blair’s point of view, it could be his only chance of political
survival. The Iraq war issue is not going to go away and every time it comes
up again, Blair’s standing grows weaker and weaker.
Three world leaders staked their political careers on supporting Bush’s
illegal invasion of Iraq: Blair, Aznar in Spain and John Howard in Australia.
Aznar has already gone.
Next November Bush will face his electorate and his prospects are not
looking good. If Bush loses Blair will be in a very difficult position.
He too will be discredited and find it very difficult to forge a working
relationship with Kerry, the Democrat challenger. Blair has burned his bridges
with France, Germany and most of the European Union to follow Bush blindly.
He will be left isolated internationally.
Bush’s own prospects of survival took a nose-dive last week after former
White House security adviser Richard Clarke revealed that Bush signally ignored
warnings of the activities of Al Qaeda in the run-up to the 11 September
attacks.
Clarke, who served at the White House for 10 years under five different
presidents, said the hijackers would “probably have been caught” and “there
was a chance” the attacks could have been prevented.
In his newly published memoir Against All Enemies he states that Bush
and his chief adviser Donald Rumsfeld had been “obsessed with Iraq”.
This bears out what American investigative journalist Greg Pallast
said in his book The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. Pallast wrote that when
FBI agents investigating Al Qaeda tried to warn Bush they were ordered to
stop their investigations.
In its early days, Al Qaeda was funded by the United States who
trained its followers to attack and subvert socialist Afghanistan.
Osama bin Laden was the financier of this group. From one of the largest
feudal Saudi families he had many very wealthy contacts who had very close
business ties with the US oil barons – including the Bush family.
Pallast wrote: “According to insiders, FBI agents had wanted to check
into two members of the bin Laden family, Abdullah and Omar, but were told
to stay away by superiors – until 13 September 2001. By then, Abdullah and
Omar were long gone from the US.”
He also wrote: “After Bush took office there was a major policy shift
at the National Security Agency. Investigators were ordered to ‘back off’
from any inquiries into Saudi Arabian financing of terror networks, especially
if they touched on Saudi royals and their retainers. That put the bin Ladens,
a family worth a reported $12 billion and a virtual arm of the Saudi royal
household, off limits for investigation.”
pandered
Pallast points out that the Clinton government also pandered to Saudi interests
over security and surveillance but, “Where Clinton said, ‘Go slow’, Bush
policymakers said, “No go”. The difference is between closing one eye and
closing them both.”
He then described how the bin Laden family had helped to bail out some
of Bush’s failing business enterprises.
These allegations are going to dominate the run-up to November – especially
since Bush chose to make the “war on terrorism” and “homeland security” the
basis of his election campaign. And it will do nothing for Blair’s political
standing.
Bush came to power on the back of electoral fraud, especially in Florida
– a crucial state where thousands of black voters were illegally told they
could not vote. Most of them probably would have voted for Gore.
Bush is unlikely to surrender power without more efforts at cheating.
The Democrats cannot let him get away with it again. It’s going to be a dirty
and prolonged campaign with an uncertain outcome. Again, this will reflect
very badly on Blair’s political judgement in tying his own fate so closely
to Bush’s.
If Blair does go for a snap election in October, he risks his huge
majority or even losing the election altogether.
If he hangs on until next year and Bush is defeated in November, the
chances of Labour winning an election with Blair as leader diminish rapidly.
But if Blair goes, a new leadership might – if they distanced themselves
far enough from Blair’s mistakes – restore Labour’s credibility.
Blair seems unlikely to volunteer to step down for the sake of the
party, he values his own career far more. The Parliamentary Labour Party,
the unions and the constituency parties must force him out, or face the danger
of a return to the nightmare of Tory government.
The Iraq issue is not going to go away, for Bush, Blair or John Howard.
Even voters taken in by war propaganda can now see the increased dangers
of terrorist reprisals it has provoked.
unpopular
The loss of civil liberties in the name of increased security is very unpopular,
especially as it does not work. In Spain, compulsory ID cards failed to prevent
the Madrid bombings.
And there is another ghost still haunting Blair. The Government has
decreed there will be no proper inquest for Dr Kelly, leaving more people
than ever convinced he was murdered to stop him saying more.
************* Editorial
Playing with fire in Gaza
THE COWARDLY assassination of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin by the Israelis
is yet another despicable Zionist crime against the Palestinian Arabs. The
Israelis may well call the killing of the spiritual leader of Hamas “targeted
assassination”. To the rest of world it is simply cold-blooded murder.
The order to kill this wheel chair-bound old man came from General Sharon
in Tel Aviv but there can be no doubt that it was approved by his master
in Washington. The murder of the Palestinian Islamic leader was simply to
strike terror into the hearts of the Palestinian Arabs and break the will
and determination of the Palestinian uprising.
Time and time again the Zionists have resorted to terror to try and crush
the Palestinians. From Israel’s foundation in 1948, born from massacres and
the expulsion of a million Palestinians from their homes, to the continuing
brutal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, terror has been the order of
the day in the Zionist entity. The fact that it doesn’t work still hasn’t
registered with the Israelis or the American imperialists who ultimately
pull all the strings in Tel Aviv.
Zionist apologists, a dwindling band outside the United States, bleat on
about Israel’s “right to exist” but what is that legitimacy based on? Surely
not on the United Nations that created the State of Israel but whose later
resolutions are routinely ignored by Israel and US imperialism? It can’t
be based on the international laws Israel has flouted from its inception
through the mass theft of Arab land and its denial of Palestinian rights.
No, it is based on the “right of conquest” and the military might of the
United States that arms Israel to the teeth so that it can do the bidding
of imperialism throughout the Middle East.
Sheikh Yassin joins the tens of thousands of Palestinian Arabs who have been
martyred in the cause of freedom. His death will fuel new anger and determination
amongst the Arabs, who will never give up their legitimate right to freedom
and their right to return to their homes in Palestine.
And in Kosovo
The blame for the upsurge in racist violence in the Nato-occupied Yugoslav
province of Kosovo lies plainly with the imperialists. The Nato forces who
used Kosovo’s Albanian nationalist leaders as pawns to establish this imperialist
protectorate in the heart of the Balkans have regularly turned a blind eye
to the actions of Serb-hating fanatics whose looting, killings, bombings
and drug-trafficking go on seemingly without hindrance.
The Serbian government is now calling for partition to protect what’s left
of the Serb minority in Kosovo. That now may be the only solution.
Taiwan too
Taiwan is a relic of the Cold War. This offshore Chinese island was occupied
by General Chiang Kai-shek’s troops during the Chinese civil war that ended
with the communist victory in 1949. But though the People’s Republic of China
was proclaimed in 1949, General Chiang maintained the pretence of the “Republic
of China” on the island and a seat on the UN Security Council until 1971,
under the protection of the American Pacific fleet.
General Chiang has long gone and his Kuomingtang (KMT) party is now
in opposition in the island it so long dominated. Only a tiny handful of
states, minor puppets of US imperialism, continue to recognise the myth of
the “republic” and realistic circles in Taiwan including the modern KMT accept
the reality of People’s China and the need for reconciliation. China has
proposed a “one country, two systems” solution for the breakaway province
that has worked admirably in Hong Kong and Macao. But a group of reactionary
Taiwanese politicians are threatening to proclaim the island’s “independence”
– an action that Beijing has repeatedly warned will lead to war.
Separatist leader “president” Chen was re-elected by the narrowest of margins
hours after being shot in an attack that the KMT say was a stunt designed
to help Chen in the polls. The opposition is demanding a recount and the
crisis continues.
What has made Chen so brave these days? If it wasn’t for the might of the
US navy, he wouldn’t have dared move down the road of confrontation with
the Chinese government.
Throughout the world American imperialism is stoking the flames of
war in their drive to establish world domination. The peoples of the world
demand independence, peace and justice. Their demands must be met.
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