How Britain's party of war gave the green light to Saudi in Yemen | Middle East Eye
Peter
Oborne analyses the outrageous decision by almost half of Labour MPs to
ignore the three-line whip called by Jeremy Corbyn to try to help end
the bloodshed in Yemen. These so-called Labour "moderates" refused to
back his cautious motion demanding that British support to Saudi Arabia
be suspended until a UN investigation had been carried out to look at
war crimes committed by all sides.
Oborne:
On Wednesday night, the British parliament sent the green light to Saudi Arabia
and its allies to carry on bombing, maiming and killing. I have
reported politics from Westminster for almost 25 years and can recall
few more shocking parliamentary events. ...
The Yemen vote demonstrates something that has been apparent ever since
the vote on 18 March 2003 to support the invasion of Iraq: the party of
war holds a majority in the Commons.
It comprises virtually all
of the Conservative Party and the Blairite wing of Labour. ... There is a
clear and demonstrable connection between the vote for war in Iraq,
opposition to an Iraq inquiry, support for the calamitous intervention
in Libya, and opposition to Jeremy Corbyn. ...
There is a telling
pattern here. For the past 15 years, parliament has been governed by a
cross-party consensus in favour of war. During that period, Britain has
undertaken three major foreign interventions, each one of them utterly
disastrous. In each one, military success was swiftly followed by
political and, ultimately, state failure.
Despite the hard-won experience of 15 years, there is still a parliamentary majority in favour of intervention.
There is an intimate connection between politicians who style themselves as moderate and neoconservative policies overseas.
Very few parliamentarians opposed all these interventions. Jeremy Corbyn was among them and he has never been forgiven for it.
This week's Yemen vote demonstrates something apparent since the vote to
invade Iraq: the party of war holds a majority in the Commons
