By Robert Fisk
".... British soldiers, American soldiers, "Allied" soldiers, have done dreadful deeds – in the Second World War, Korea, Malaya, Dutch-ruled Indonesia, Algeria and yes, Afghanistan and Iraq. And their cruelty was part of a culture of impunity and colonialism and government-inspired racism – it did not emerge from the fraudulent "few bad apples" nonsense parroted by George W Bush and Lord Blair of Isfahan....
But even this explanation is not good enough. Surely the experience of the past decade is that we can encourage, empower and facilitate others to perform awful deeds without taking moral responsibility. No, not on a Nazi scale. But rendition, secret black prisons, mass torture, executions by our allies (in Afghanistan, for example, suffocation to death, electrodes on the genitals in Morocco, sustained torture in Damascus on CIA instructions or in Libya with British collusion). We may no longer be capable of doing these things ourselves. International law – or what is left of it after the criminality of Bush and Blair – still prevents us turning into Nazis. But it doesn't stop us from turning others into Nazis. And I fear that we do sleep soundly.
After all, it's one thing to hold out the hand of human friendship to Muslims – as Barack Obama did in Cairo two years ago – and to opponents of dictatorship; but quite another to supply the dictators with weapons. In Cairo this month, I was shown the cartridge cases of the latest gas grenades to be fired by police thugs at protesters around Tahrir Square – manufactured in 2003, thus long expired – blinding some and killing others, and on the side of each is written: "3231 37/38 MM RIOT CS SMOKE PROJECTILE RANGE 150 YDS (136 METER), COMBINED TACTICAL SYSTEMS 388, KINSMAN ROAD, JAMESTOWN PA (Pennsylvania) 16134 DO NOT FIRE DIRECTLY AT PERSON(S) SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH MAY RESULT. MADE IN USA.'
Come to think of it, that might have been Obama's real speech to the Muslims of the Middle East. And do the lads and lasses who work at 388 Kinsman Road, Jamestown, PA, sleep soundly at night? Of course."
".... British soldiers, American soldiers, "Allied" soldiers, have done dreadful deeds – in the Second World War, Korea, Malaya, Dutch-ruled Indonesia, Algeria and yes, Afghanistan and Iraq. And their cruelty was part of a culture of impunity and colonialism and government-inspired racism – it did not emerge from the fraudulent "few bad apples" nonsense parroted by George W Bush and Lord Blair of Isfahan....
But even this explanation is not good enough. Surely the experience of the past decade is that we can encourage, empower and facilitate others to perform awful deeds without taking moral responsibility. No, not on a Nazi scale. But rendition, secret black prisons, mass torture, executions by our allies (in Afghanistan, for example, suffocation to death, electrodes on the genitals in Morocco, sustained torture in Damascus on CIA instructions or in Libya with British collusion). We may no longer be capable of doing these things ourselves. International law – or what is left of it after the criminality of Bush and Blair – still prevents us turning into Nazis. But it doesn't stop us from turning others into Nazis. And I fear that we do sleep soundly.
After all, it's one thing to hold out the hand of human friendship to Muslims – as Barack Obama did in Cairo two years ago – and to opponents of dictatorship; but quite another to supply the dictators with weapons. In Cairo this month, I was shown the cartridge cases of the latest gas grenades to be fired by police thugs at protesters around Tahrir Square – manufactured in 2003, thus long expired – blinding some and killing others, and on the side of each is written: "3231 37/38 MM RIOT CS SMOKE PROJECTILE RANGE 150 YDS (136 METER), COMBINED TACTICAL SYSTEMS 388, KINSMAN ROAD, JAMESTOWN PA (Pennsylvania) 16134 DO NOT FIRE DIRECTLY AT PERSON(S) SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH MAY RESULT. MADE IN USA.'
Come to think of it, that might have been Obama's real speech to the Muslims of the Middle East. And do the lads and lasses who work at 388 Kinsman Road, Jamestown, PA, sleep soundly at night? Of course."
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