British diplomats bust Blair

A whole bunch of British government diplomats have released a letter criticizing Tony Blair's strategies on Iraq and Israel/Palestine, saying that he has been heedless of civilian casualties in Iraq while undermining and unbalancing the British approach to the Arab world by abandoning the Road Map plan. Reuters summarizes the 'unprecedented letter' while Juan Cole reprints it in full. I would characterize this as pretty much the whole British Arabist establishment flaming Blair. Reuters:

The diplomats criticised the toll of the war and apparent lack of a plan for life in the country post-Saddam. "The Iraqis killed by coalition forces probably total between 10,000 and 15,000," they said, estimating the number killed in the last month in Falluja alone at several hundred.

"There was no effective plan for the post-Saddam settlement...To describe the resistance as led by terrorists, fanatics and foreigners is neither convincing nor helpful."

On the Middle East, the diplomats said big powers had waited for U.S. leadership to advance a "road map" for peace that had raised expectations of a lasting Israeli-Palestinian settlement. "The hopes were ill-founded. Nothing effective has been done either to move the negotiations forward or to curb the violence. Britain and the other sponsors of the road map merely waited on American leadership, but waited in vain," it said.

"Worse was to come," they continued, attacking Bush's decision this month to endorse an Israeli plan to retain some settlements in the West Bank as an illegal and one-sided step. "Our dismay at this backward step is heightened by the fact that you yourself seem to have endorsed it, abandoning the principles which for nearly four decades have guided international efforts to restore peace in the Holy Land."

Or rather, as Iraqi-Palestinian Raed in the Middle put it about a week ago:

I am ANGRY!!! VERY ANGRY!!! I am a secular leftist! But I am angry!!!!
Can you imagine what do other millions of right winged religious people feel????
I can’t even concentrate and don't know if my words will make any sense!!

The hate and anger of the Arab people today is unbelievable!!!, Palestinians Iraqis Jordanians Egyptians Syrians … the hate against Bush and his administration is huge now… enormous … ENORMOUS!!!!!!
Everyone believes that Bush is giving the green light for Sharon to kill their leaders, and everyone thinks that Iraq, Falluja, Najaf and every other city would face the same Palestinian destiny if they didn’t fight Against the American army now …. They would be put under siege and assassinated one by one by the American helicopters!!!
Everyone thinks that it is better to start fighting from now!!! Everyone is full of HATE!!! EVEN ME!!!

When the Iraqi fighter kills more American soldiers now… he has the images of Ahmad Yasin and Ranteesi in his mind
Can you imagine a community that is boiling?! Like a volcano?!
....
I am losing faith that words can solve anything when Bush and Sharon are ruling the world, and I can feel that explosion that will destroy everything is coming; it will destroy us and destroy you.

The explosion is coming.
The volcano of the Middle East is not going to sleep forever.

And earlier:

So, after the huge defeat and failure, Bush decided to make a move today… he announced the neo-Balfour Declaration, and gave the house of my grandfather as a gift to Sharon. Please! UN resolutions? Road map? anyone? hello?

I mean… where is the point? How can someone donate something that he doesn’t own? It’s like me announcing that I give the house of Bush as a gift to my father!

Posted by HongPong at April 27, 2004 10:48 PM
Listed under International Politics , Iraq , Israel-Palestine .