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Bush And Blair Teamed Up To Fight “the new evil in our world”–But The “War” May Last 2 More Generations
by Monica Davis
The war on terror has taken many twists and turns in the last 20 years. Through three presidents and countles foreign officials, the war machine continues to grind its way to profit and conquest. In the process, the US has stood shoulder to shoulder with Great Britain, Israel, and various and sundry bit players.
In a modern version of “The White Man’s Burden”, Bush 43 and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, formed a dualistic war machine which rolled across former British colonies in the Middle East like an out of controll bulldozer. If you are naive, you will consider the act a necessary tool for fighting global terrorism. If you are a pessimist with a gimlet eye, you may be more inclined to think that the so-called War on Terror created more terrorists than it eliminated.
Immediately after the 9/11 attacks, Tony Blair took a train from Brighton to London, where he issued a statement that pledged unswerving support for the US. He described terrorism as “the new evil in our world,” perpetrated by people with no regard for the sanctity of human life. There was now to be a battle between the free world and terrorism, he said. “We therefore here in Britain stand shoulder to shoulder with our American friends in this hour of tragedy and we, like them, will not rest until this evil is driven from our world.”
Quietly, Britain pledged logistics support for the rendition program, which resulted in the CIA’s Gulfstream V and other jets becoming frequent visitors to British airports en route to the agency’s secret prisons. Over the next four years, a 26-strong flight of rendition aircraft operated by the CIA used UK airports at least 210 times. Dozens of other private executive jets that the agency chartered were also regular visitors to the UK. Nineteen British airports and RAF bases were used, including Heathrow, Birmingham, Luton, Bournemouth and Belfast. The agency’s favorite destination was Prestwick in Scotland, which it used more than 75 times. One CIA pilot described Prestwick as an ideal refueling stop. “It’s an ‘ask no questions’ type of place, and you don’t need to give them any advance notice you’re coming. READMOREHERE
The US Constitution became an outdated document which Bush regularly ignored, just as he and Blair ignored the restrictions of the Geneva Convention by redefining the concept of opponent or enemy. Now, according to the redefinition, it was fine to torture “terrorists” because they were not part of a regular army and thus could not claim the protection of the Geneva Conbention protocols.
And so it was, that Blair jumped on the Bush rendition train and allowed British territory to become home base for rendition flights. Ignoring the “irrelevant” Geneva Convention, Bush used Britain to maintain bases for torture and abuse. President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair were joined at the hip in the torture machine, a process which fueled the terrorist’s recruiting process like throwing gasoline on a fire.
Twenty some years after the first Iraq war, American forces remain in the Middle East. And while we are allegedly drawing down and pulling out, US paid mercenaries and ‘contractors’ remain behind to stir up more trouble and feast on Uncle Sam’s dime.
No one really knows how much the ‘war’ has cost the US taxpayer. As much as $20 billion has simply been “lost.” That doesn’t count the amount of weapons that have fallen into Al Qaeda’s hands. And so it is that we have fueled the “new evil in our world” by torture, collateral damage, ignorance and greed.
Despite what President Obama claims, the war isn’t over–and it may go on for another two generations.
