Us & Them Needless to say, there have been no calls from politicians and commentators to take down earlier, far more outrageous articles - in the Guardian, Daily Mail, The Times, Telegraph and elsewhere
ing the Carter and Reagan administrations (in order to draw the Soviets into a quagmire in Afghanistan), there would have been no ‘War on Terror’ – and no terrorist attacks in Paris tonight.” Floyd made clear that he deplored “the depravity displayed by the murderers of innocents in Paris tonight.” But the Biblical phrase “reaping the whirlwind” was ripped from the article, losing the vital context in which it was embedded, and flung with anger and vitriol around the internet. One title of a Daily Mail article shrieked, “Corbyn condemned as an apologist for terrorists by LABOUR MPs in row over ‘shoot to kill’ and cause of Paris atrocity.” Ian Austin, Labour MP for Dudley North, said that those who agreed with Stop the War were, “not just absolving the terrorists of responsibility; they risk fuelling the sense of grievance and resentment which can develop into extremism and terrorism.” Tristram Hunt, the former shadow education secretary, told the BBC Andrew Marr Show that Stop the War had recently made “pretty ugly comments” including “about how the French almost had it coming to them.” Stop the War were, he added, “a really disreputable organization,” and he called on Jeremy Corbyn to pull out of its Christmas fundraising event (Corbyn went ahead and attended). During a meeting with Tory MPs, Prime Minister David Cameron called Jeremy Corbyn and his allies “terrorist sympathizers,” an appalling remark for which he refused to apologize, despite being challenged numerous times to do so in the House of Commons. Floyd subsequently wrote about being exploited as a “political football” by warmongers. He stated that he has no assocation with Stop the War and his article was republished without his knowledge or permission (which he said he would have given, if asked). His piece was, “used by Labour Blairites and Tory twits to bash Corbyn for the ‘sickening’ article, which showed what
20 ColdType | January 2016 | www.coldtype.net
an ungodly radical he really was.” Floyd’s words had been, “egregiously mischaracterized not only by the giants of statesmanship in Parliament but also by the founts of savvy wisdom throughout the UK press.” Thus, an article pointing out uncomfortable truths about the consequences of Western policy in the Middle East had been cynically exploited by politicians and journalists who have themselves, in many cases, cheerled or even orchestrated one Western bloodbath after another. Needless to say, there have been no calls from politicians and commentators to take down earlier, far more outrageous articles – in the Guardian, Daily Mail, The Times, Telegraph and elsewhere – recklessly calling for illegal and disastrous wars, resulting in huge death tolls and mass suffering. (For the record, this would be an act of censorship and one we would not support). The 2015 Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change: Policy Responses to Protect Public Health presented “a comprehensive account of the vast and continuing human toll of the various ‘Wars on Terror’ conducted in the name of the American people since the events of September 11, 2001.” The West’s terrorism, routinely sold as “humanitarian intervention,” has killed around a million people in Iraq, 220,000 in Afghanistan and 80,000 in Pakistan. This total of 1.3-million deaths does not even include casualties of Western-supported violence in other war zones, such as Yemen. Indeed, the authors stress that the death toll is a “conservative estimate.” As for the financial cost of these wars, that has been at least $3-trillion. One might think all of this would weigh heavily on the consciences of the laptop bombardiers promoting perpetual war who appear far more troubled by articles published on a small website run by Stop The War. More recently, a second article was published, and then removed, from the Stop the War website. Matt Carr, a fine and cou-