The UK government's sponsorship of the largest European arms fair in September 6-12 of this year threatens global peace endangering civlians and nation states alike. DSEI (Defence Systems Equipment International) will invite delegates from 79 different countries, one-third involved in war or conflict. Blair’s war against Iraq and terrorism will conveniently forget the date of this conference coincides with the September 11 when a former DSEI conference took place.

UK companies will be exporting arms and military equipment to 20 countries engaged in serious conflicts around the world according to campaign organisation CAAT’s (Campaign Against Arms Trade) research amidst token concerns for civilian casualties.

Blair’s diplomatic solution for a peaceful resolution for the Iraqi people was to attack and invade the country under US control failed to address the ethical policy of selling weapons or the fact that often the US intelligence institution the CIA is behind the dictators that oppress and terrorise their civilian populations. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is no exception.

Countries engaged in conflict are actively encouraged by ministers and arms companies leading to a never-ending continuation, which is part of CAAT’s new campaign. “Fanning the Flames” hopes to make a difference by stopping the promotion of arms, particularly to countries engaged in conflict particularly the closure of the Defence Services Export Organisation (DESO), the government agency promoting arms exports.

Since Labour came into power, UK arms companies have contributed to 1,329,500 deaths of people in conflicts from Algeria to Colombia from India to Pakistan (figures from CAAT).

UK PM Tony Blair’s latest pledge of paving a road path of peace for the middle-east is difficult to reconcile with the actions of arms companies aided by the UK government. In July 2002 of this year, Blair’s response to the Daily Mirror’s question as to why the UK wouldn’t stop supplying arms to Israel. A trade which has now doubled to the value of £22.5m. He said: “What would actually happen if we did that is not that the parts wouldn’t be supplied but you would find every other defence industry in the world rushing in to take the place that we have vacated”.

Civilians are increasingly paying the real human cost of offering peace by selling war. Around 1,300 Palestinians and 300 Israeli civilians losing their lives with over 23,000 people including many children injured, in September 200. Yet refugees from war torn areas are given little sympathy upon arrival on UK shores despite the fact that the vast majority of refugees are in Africa with only 10 per cent in Europe.

Around 70 per cent of the world’s arms are sold by the US but Britain follows closely behind. Germany exports cars, Italy exports luxury goods but the British government has chosen to concentrate on the sale of arms. Huge government subsidies have enabled UK arms manufacturers to become the second largest arms exporter in the world.

Turkey is one of the Britain’s arms customers despite its human rights record with Turkish Kurds and one of New Labour’s allies. When New Labour came into power, Turkey destroyed 3,500 Kurdish villages, forcing 2-3 million people to flee from their homes and killing thousands. The war in southeast Turkey was against PKK guerillas but more generally against the Kurdish population. Labour's reaction was to continue arms supplies, military training, economic links and diplomatic support.

But the Kurds situated in the oil-rich Kirkuk may indeed enjoy the support of the US and the UK but the humanitarian consideration will be limited to their economic use.

Blair’s moral case for war accused the UN of failing to enforce a resolution against Iraq against international law even though 1441 did not countenance an invasion. The US and UK fails to mention 91 other Security Council resolutions because most of these countries are US allies.

The US and UK could uphold international law by terminating the sale of arms to Israel, which is in violation of over 30 resolutions including the continuing illegal occupation of another people, along with violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention through steady encroachment on and effective annexation of that land. Indonesia, another U.S. ally, violated U.N. resolutions for a quarter of a century in East Timor with relative impunity

The UN came into existence in 1945 primarily as a security organisation designed to prevent wars and punish aggressors but its effectiveness is being undermined with the unilateral actions of the US and UK. But the UN has since been used by the US a financial buffer for its own illegal interventions. The Pentagon will have $355bn set aside for the latest Iraq conflict and this excludes the $200bn required for the occupation and so-called nation building when the war is over.

UN involvement will be needed as the oil companies urging this war will be reluctant to get involved in the cost of the reconstruction and rebuilding of Iraq. The US and UK are keen to get the UN to share the economic fall-out estimated to be between $150-200bn even the greatest proponent for war, the US has only put aside $50m for this purpose. The US and UK cannot undermine the institution upholding international opinion and then use it to support unilateral action as this will be the greatest threat to both international law and the institution created to protect peoples of the world. International Development Secretary Clare Short has just set off to the UN HQ in New York but she is unlikely to illicit support from increasingly sceptical world leaders.

Blair has recently used Kosovo as an excuse for unilateral war but this intervention had widespread support and was for humanitarian reasons not a regime change at the cost of causing a humanitarian catastrophe. The people of the second city of Basra are currently under siege without access water.

The people of Britain are opposed to a war that is endangering civilians and soldiers alike prompting the largest demonstration in UK history. Around one and half-million protestors in the UK joined over 11 million people worldwide in their condemnation of attacking Iraq.

Many would be concerned about the unaccountable arms trade controlled by self-appointed world policeman, the US and the UK. People in Canning Town, East London, where DSEI takes part are no different. Locals in Canning Town are opposed to the purpose of this conference and want to know why the area claiming large regeneration monies still suffers deprivation but more importantly why it is hosting a conference for large multinationals facilitating selling weapons of death.

Blair, forever keen to assure that “lessons have been learnt from the past”, will annihilate one CIA created dictator with scant regard for civilians. Afghanistan and history has taught us that US involvement inevitably creates new dictatorships leading to misery for countless millions.

Little has changed but public opinion.

News from the other side - Al jazerrah in English
 http://www.uk.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=59747&group=webcast

Dr Eric Herring, International Politics senior lecturer at Bristol University states that the US has failed to rule out using weapons of mass destruction. He questions the increasing possibility that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction but highlights the contradictory British government stances to justify the illegal conflict.
 http://www.uk.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=59748&group=webcast

Black generals Colin Powell and Brig Gen Vincent Brooks increasingly being used in the American state-led propaganda war to hide deaths of civilians and soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
 http://www.uk.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=59731&group=webcast