WMD REPLAY LEAVES UK LEADER TRAPPED

The US, possibly supported by the EU and UK, is on the verge of repeating one of the biggest international criminal acts in modern history – the wrongful 2003 “WMD” western invasion of Iraq that led directly to at least 151,000 violent deaths and a rise in excess deaths of more than a million people.

A significant proportion of the US leadership wants to press ahead with attacking Iran, although public surveys in the country clearly oppose the move. The EU is divided, and the UK is chafing at what academics call its “loss of sovereignty” for its support of the US.

BRITAIN’S HEADACHE
Britain in particular is in a bind, as was clear in a meeting of Cobra, a government emergency planning group, on Tuesday this week.

A US invasion of Iran would almost certainly need to use British colonised areas such as the Chagos Islands and the island of Cyprus. Chagos would be the natural place from which to launch the US’s 30,000 lb (13 tonne) mountain-destroying superbomb.

That would make Britain complicit in an international war crime. Cyprus, meanwhile is a UK airforce base and a spy center that is already being used to support Benjamin Netanyahu’s military with intelligence reports.

ATTACKS ON IRAN ARE ILLEGAL
The relevant United Nations charter is very clear that what Israel is doing is illegal, as many commentators have pointed out.

Article 51 says that countries may take military action to defend themselves against acts of war by others—a description which puts Iran in the right and Israel in the wrong, unless the facts are turned upside down in the style of Fox News/ CNN.

Worse still, the US is focused on hitting a nuclear facility in Iran. Article 56 of the United Nations charter specifically prohibits military action against nuclear facilities.

LIST OF PARALLELS
While the present situation is not an exact repeat of 2003, the parallels are extraordinary (see attached chart). To focus just the most obvious one, the British public showed that they did not believe stories by politicians and journalists that Iraq had “Weapons of Mass Destruction” (WMDs).

After the conflict, it became clear that the public had got it right, but had been ignored by a Labour Party leader who claimed to be anti-war, while in reality being too supportive of a trigger-happy US leader.

ALREADY IN LINE
But will Britain throw in its lot with the US and Israel? The quick answer to that is: It has already done so.

• When the Houthis of Yemen disrupted western shipping as a protest against the slaughter of people in Gaza, Britain helped America with a deadly airstrike campaign.
• When Israel and Iran traded missiles last year, Britain helped Israel shoot down incoming munitions from Iran.
• When the countries of the world first united at the United Nations to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, Britain abstained—and repeated that act twice more.
• Matt Kennard of Declassified, an independent media group, has shown that the UK has repeatedly made military flights over Gaza to gather data for their counterparts in the Israeli Defense Forces.

ALREADY IN THE FIGHT
Meanwhile, commentators say a question mark hangs over whether Donald Trump will bring the United States into Israel’s war on Iran.

But the simple truth is that the US is already in there, and has been for many years.

Israel may be credited with being the prime mover, but US taxpayers paid for the weapons, US manufacturers made the weapons, and US intelligence is helping supply data for targeting.