True costs of the Afghan War – really staggering. This does not take into account, of course, the so called 'collateral damage' in Afghanistan itself, the destruction of the infrastructure, the countless lives and the huge numbers of refugees living in Pakistan and elsewhere. Also when you see the Daily Mail and the New Labour ministers fulminating against illegal refugees etc - many of whom are from Afghanistan and Iraq, perhaps they should be asked to indulge in some 'joined up thinking'. Remember that phrase from the days when Blair's government was supposed to be the government of all the talents and everything from transport to welfare policies was supposed to be interconnected. That did not last long. Much the same as having an ethical foreign policy - ask Craig Murray about that one.
I attended a meeting the other week in parliament concerning the Iraq War Inquiry, which is due to start its deliberations in September, over six years after the start of the war. What are the bets that in 2015 we will be discussing the Afghan War Inquiry? By that time how much money will have been spent on arms and how many Afghans, British and others will be dead? And as for making the streets of the UK safer from attack - nothing could be further from the truth. The war continues to criminalise the Muslim community and to stoke up hatred and resentment.
It has now been confirmed that the Green Left fringe on the War in Afghanistan will be on the Thursday evening (September 3rd) of Green Party conference in Hove – the debate on the motion will be the following day.
Stop the War Coalition will have a stall at conference and will be attending our fringe. We are fortunate to have Jeremy Corbyn MP as one of our speakers at the fringe – a Labour MP who has consistently spoken out against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our other speaker will be our own Farid Bakht, who gave a short presentation on this issue to the AGM and is the Parliamentary Candidate for Bethnal Green & Bow.
No comments:
Post a Comment