Britons will never back preemptive strike on Iran, MP says
Britons will never back preemptive strike on Iran, MP says, Times of Israel, David Horovitz, February 21, 2014
(After the P5+1 kerfuffle ends with Iran a regional nuclear power, will any Western nation even attempt to restore effective sanctions? — DM)
Conservative Robert Halfon says UK is so scarred by Iraq war, it will only support resort to force if it is directly attacked.
Robert Halfon (screen capture: YouTube)
The member of Parliament representing Winston Churchill’s former constituency said that the British public will never countenance military intervention to prevent Iran attaining nuclear weapons.
Robert Halfon, the Conservative MP for Harlow, said more broadly that Britons are so scarred by what they regard as having being drawn into war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq on false pretenses that they will not now support the use of military force unless Britain itself or a British target overseas is directly attacked.
Halfon, who was visiting Israel this week in a delegation of Conservative Friends of Israel, told The Times of Israel in an interview that the vote in the House of Commons last August against a resort to force in Syria, following President Bashar Assad’s use of chemical weapons against his own people, was “a tragic day for our country.” The vote, a crushing defeat for Prime Minister David Cameron, reflected the “scarring” effect the Iraq war has had on the British psyche, he said, with Britons believing that were misled about Saddam’s non-conventional weapons capacity. Cameron’s defeat was also a result of “political opportunism” by the opposition Labour Party.
US President Barack Obama welcomes British Prime Minister David Cameron in the Oval Office in May 2013. (photo credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite
That vote, in turn, Halfon said, had a “massive effect” on US President Barack Obama, who subsequently changed course, having indicated that a “punitive” strike against Assad was imminent. “The one dependable ally of the US was saying no,” Halfon said.
Instead, the US accepted a Russian-mediated initiative under which Assad has agreed to give up his entire chemical weapons capability, but Halfon rejected the idea that this represented an enviable result. He said he was not yet convinced that Assad would indeed shed his entire WMD capacity and capability, that the US and UK positions sent a dismal signal to dictators everywhere, and that Iran perceived Obama’s behavior as signalling weakness — which in turn gave it confidence to continue to pursue its nuclear program.
He stressed that while he had emphatically backed military intervention in Syria, “my constituents were all against. They see the body bags coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said.
Winston Churchill (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Halfon, 44, who grew up in a Jewish family in north London, won election to Parliament in 2010 in the seat formerly held by Churchill, Britain’s inspirational World War II prime minister. He said he lamented that in today’s Britain, there was both an “importing and exporting” of Islamist terrorism. Islamic extremists, “indoctrinated in Britain, are going to Syria to fight,” and radical Islamist preachers were coming into the UK to teach hatred. “We were only able to extradite [radical preacher] Abu Qatada [to face terrorism charges in Jordan] after a long struggle,” he noted.
He said Britain was grappling with “lots” of terrorist plots hatched by Muslim extremists and that a Kurdish leader who visited the UK recently and went to a mosque in the north of England told him that “a mosque that radical would have been closed down in Kurdistan.” (In the worst recent Islamist terror attack in the UK, in July 2005, four British-raised Muslims carried out simultaneous suicide bombings on a London bus and three underground trains, killing 52 people and injuring 700.)
Unfortunately, Halfon charged, the right-wing UKIP political party exploits the Islamist danger to “bash moderate Muslims,” while the political left “appeases” the extremists.
Halfon said Israel’s image in the UK has improved a little since a low point at the time of May 2010 Mavi Marmara raid, when Israeli naval commandos, commandeering a Turkish vessel seeking to break the security blockade of Gaza, opened fire and killed 9 activists after coming under attack. “Since the Arab Spring erupted, people are registering that Israel is the region’s only democracy, and seeing on TV the oppression in Arab countries, notably by Assad,” he said.
Nonetheless, among those pushing boycotts of Israel, there was no change in the level of hostility — “but all that, don’t forget, is organized by Israel’s enemies… There’s not been one [major] demonstration over the killings of 140,000 Syrians, he said.
Scarlett Johansson with Sodastream’s Daniel Birnbaum (photo credit: Mike Coppola/Getty Images for SodaStream/via JTA)
Relating to British charity Oxfam’s criticism of Scarlett Johansson for representing Israel’s SodaStream, with its West Bank settlement factory employing Jews, Israeli Arabs and Palestinians, he wondered why Oxfam does not boycott the likes of Russia and China. Noting that its protests over SodaStream had prompted the US actress to step down from her role as an Oxfam ambassador, Halfon said “SodaStream is an enlightened company, and Johansson is a hero.”
Explore posts in the same categories: Uncategorized
WarSclerotic 
February 21, 2014 at 3:44 PM
The Brits don’t seem to realize that is they who are being preempted by hoards of Muslim immigrants.
February 21, 2014 at 4:36 PM
those people have no say and no one is listening to them,i cant see how this was picked up there both facing disciplinary action in the tory party its a attempt to discredit cameron,the UK will very much attack iran if the negotiations fail
February 21, 2014 at 3:50 PM
The dominos will continue to fall, leaving Netanyahu’s decision to do nothing naked and in the glaring light of history as the keystone to his failure.
February 21, 2014 at 4:13 PM
Of course – the same England was disarming after WW1 and had to be rescued from Nazi Germany during WW2 by the USA. Due to the constant anti Israeli policy of England I doubt that England will be saved by others another time – I think the UK will one day lose its last island too (which is the one they are living on by now ). It never pays to fight the jewish people….
February 21, 2014 at 4:33 PM
BULLSHIT RUSSIAN
February 21, 2014 at 4:29 PM
Reblogged this on Oyia Brown.
February 21, 2014 at 4:50 PM
Why do you keep bringing Churchill into this,churchill was a blundering idot who should be remembered for his long list of screw ups and catastrophes ranging from Gallipoli 252000 casualty’s to the the absolute incompetence of the second world war he prolonged it ,regularly disregarded montys advice,his handling of military matters was a catalog of incompetence,his mistakes greatly prolonged the second world war ,the only two things he was ever right about were that Stalin iron curtain was going to enslave a third of the world which he helped come true and that the Nazies had to be stopped,he did more to help them than hinder them,Historically he was an idiot
February 21, 2014 at 6:19 PM
“I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.
At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty’s Government-every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation.
The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength.
Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail.
We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France,
we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”
Winston Churchill
“What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, “This was their finest hour.”
Winston Churchill
February 21, 2014 at 6:20 PM
Would be rather nice if Netanyahu had such steele.
February 21, 2014 at 9:46 PM
look john churchill was the best of the worst,your not British enough to know what i am really talking about,churchill was all talk if he had listened to monty others from the start the war would of been over in 3 years,,nearly all of Churchill strategic planning ended in disaster,britain needed a loud mouth at the time and churchill fitted the bill,and thats it Britain won the war in spite of churchill not because of him,and i can say this members of my family received Vc and DFCs,as you have lernt with iran talk is just talk and thats what churchill was good at propaganda and nothing else he was a military disaster he regularly dismissed his generals advice only rescued by people like my grandfather and Monty those are the people who deserve the credit,
February 21, 2014 at 9:58 PM
and adding to this the Marlborough family dukedom and Spencer are family half yid Churchill did not care about the plight of the jews he in fact used it as political weapon
February 21, 2014 at 6:19 PM
YOu write “churchill was a blundering idot”
I’ve never read such utter nonsense in my life.
Michael Sheldan, author of Young Titan – The Making of winston Churchill, on page 325 writes “The blame for this tragic campaign was widely shared, but it was Churchill who was made to pay for the price of failure. The young titan had pushed his luck too far. So, too had others, but this setback was so big that a suitable ig scapegoat was needed and Winston was it’
I just do not understand why you comment at all with your zero understanding of history?
Here are a few references to educate you a bit:
What is Bibi reading?
http://madisdead.blogspot.co.il/2013/06/what-is-bibi-reading.html
Never Despair
http://madisdead.blogspot.co.il/2013/03/never-despair.html
February 22, 2014 at 4:51 PM
it wasn’t just one campaign it was loads he nearly lost the war in the first two weeks with the french expeditionary force what would you know,about Britain or democracy your a Russian its simply beyond your comprehension,you come from a country that in war there are more guns pointing at you from your own side,where despotic human rights abuses are normal,where young women are whipped on live tv,you have ho right to comment on Churchill you know nothing about the UK or Churchill dont talk to me
February 25, 2014 at 3:50 PM
You know so little. Churchill helped the Royal Navy get ready for WWI
From Young Titan: The Making Of Winston Churchill
Though Winston felt the need to keep building ships he was looking for something besides a numerical advantage.Wanting also to maintain superiority in speed and firepower, he made two of the boldest moves of his career. To give his ships greater speed, he wanted them to burn oil instead of coal. And to make sure they could outshoot the Germans, he wanted them armed with a weapon of unsurpassed power. Instead of sticking dreadnought’s most advanced 13.5 inch (342.9-mm), he opted for the development of the massive new 15-inch (381-mm) gun that could hit targets up to 20 miles away.
February 25, 2014 at 4:39 PM
Go back to Russia you sad little man you problem enjoy beating girls for the tv cameras ,you dont know anything your not english and have not been educated here ,well wow you read a single book the wrong oner at that now FOAD
February 21, 2014 at 6:47 PM
“Historically he was an idiot”
Good grief, you just insist on coming off as a dolt.
February 25, 2014 at 4:01 PM
I have one question for Justice. If Sir Churchill was such a disaster, then in your opinion who should have led the Brits in WWII? Maybe your answer will shed a little light on your position.
February 25, 2014 at 6:34 PM
the first thing you have to understand is that the government was a coalition,Churchill was in the right place at the right time with the right talk,but that’s it many people believe Churchill overstretched the UK,Why am i not soo keen on him he was a warmonger left tom Churchill it would of been endless war,,By far Churchill was the best spokes person,but he did not call the shots this was done on consensus,if i had had to chose it would of been Sinclair most of what came out of Churchill’s mouth was Sinclair and believe me he was a real tough nut not a talker like Churchill..Hope you understand me now,many blame Churchill for the beginning of demise of the Empire i don’t agree with that completely
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Sinclair,_1st_Viscount_Thurso
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/election_01.shtml