At 2pm on Thursday 25th October, a new statue of the former British Prime Minister Lloyd George will be unveiled in Parliament Square (
http://lloydgeorgesociety.org.uk). This would be an excellent opportunity for activists to educate the public about some of the grim realities of Britain’s imperial past, and to draw out some of the connections between that past and Britain’s current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://lloydgeorgesociety.org.uk). This would be an excellent opportunity for activists to educate the public about some of the grim realities of Britain’s imperial past, and to draw out some of the connections between that past and Britain’s current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Here are a few of the pertinent facts:
1) Lloyd George was PM between 1916 and 1922. During this period Britain used planes to bomb: Mashud, on India’s border with Afghanistan (1917); Dacca, Jalalabad, and Kabul (1919, during the “third Afghan war”); Egypt (1919); Enzeli in Iran (1920); Trans-Jordan (1920, killing 200 people); and, of course, Iraq (see Sven Linqvist, ‘A History of Bombing’, Section 102, and David Omissi, ‘Air Power and Colonial Control: The Royal Airforce, 1919 – 1939’, some relevant excerpts from which are reproduced here: http://tinyurl.com/2jywwr).
2) In February 1932 the League of Nations convened on disarmament. Germany moved for a total prohibition of bombing, but Britain insisted upon exempting bombing for “police purposes in certain outlying regions” (Lindqvist, Section 140). Lloyd George noted that, "we insisted on reserving the right to bomb niggers" (Chomsky, Year 501, Chapter 1, see http://tinyurl.com/3297ry).
3) British war planes dropped more bombs on Iraqi targets in July / August 2007 than in the whole of the previous three years ( http://tinyurl.com/ypuqd7). Meanwhile, British troops in Afghanistan have called in US airstrikes ‘hundreds of times in recent months’ contributing to a rapidly mounting death toll of Afghan civilians ( http://tinyurl.com/25k524). A recent survey of deaths in Iraq estimated that roughly 116,000 Iraqis had been killed by aerial bombardment since the start of the 2003 invasion ( http://tinyurl.com/38qeyt).
PRESS RELEASE
Voices UK www.voicesuk.org
Wednesday 24 October 2007
Contact 07952 354 722
LLOYD GEORGE’S ‘UTTERLY DISGRACEFUL’ LEGACY CONDEMNED AS NEW STATUE UNVEILED IN PARLIAMENT SQUARE.
Former PM bombed Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, and backed “the right to bomb niggers.”
Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter, journalist John Pilger, and the former UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Iraq, Denis Halliday, have all signed a letter, to be published tomorrow in The Telegraph, describing the celebration of Lloyd George’s legacy– a new statue of who is due to be unveiled in Parliament Square tomorrow (Thursday 25th October) at 2pm [1] – as ‘both highly topical and utterly disgraceful.’
George was PM between 1916 - 1922. During this period Britain used planes to bomb: Mashud, on India’s border with Afghanistan (1917); Dacca, Jalalabad, and Kabul (1919, during the “third Afghan war”); Egypt (1919); Enzeli in Iran (1920); Trans-Jordan (1920, killing 200 people); and, of course, Iraq [2].
In February 1932 the League of Nations convened a conference on disarmament. Germany moved for the total prohibition of aerial bombing, but Britain insisted on exempting bombing for “police purposes in certain outlying regions.” "We insisted on reserving the right to bomb niggers," Lloyd George noted [3].
In the letter, Pinter et al note that, “Today these vicious policies continue unabated. Thus, British war planes dropped more bombs on Iraqi targets in July / August of this year than in the whole of the previous three years [4]. Meanwhile, British troops in Afghanistan have called in hundreds of US airstrikes in recent months, contributing to the rapidly mounting civilian death toll [5]. One recent survey estimated that roughly 116,000 Iraqis had been killed by aerial bombardment since the start of the 2003 invasion [6]. All of which makes today’s celebration of George’s legacy both highly
topical and utterly disgraceful.”
ENDNOTES
[1] Lloyd George Society http://lloydgeorgesociety.org.uk.
[2] Sven Linqvist, ‘A History of Bombing’, Section 102. David Omissi, ‘Air Power and Colonial Control: The Royal Airforce, 1919 – 1939’ (see excerpts here: http://tinyurl.com/2jywwr).
[3] Victor Kiernan, ‘European empires from conquest to collapse 1815-1960’, p.200, cited in Noam Chomsky, ‘Year 501: The Conquest Continues’, Chapter 1, citing ( http://tinyurl.com/3297ry)
[4] Massive increase in RAF bombing, Sunday Telegraph, 14/08/2007 http://tinyurl.com/ypuqd7
[5] Civilian death toll rises in the bloody battle of Helmand, The Observer, 12/08/2007 http://tinyurl.com/25k524
[6] See http://tinyurl.com/38qeyt from www.opinion.co.uk
1) Lloyd George was PM between 1916 and 1922. During this period Britain used planes to bomb: Mashud, on India’s border with Afghanistan (1917); Dacca, Jalalabad, and Kabul (1919, during the “third Afghan war”); Egypt (1919); Enzeli in Iran (1920); Trans-Jordan (1920, killing 200 people); and, of course, Iraq (see Sven Linqvist, ‘A History of Bombing’, Section 102, and David Omissi, ‘Air Power and Colonial Control: The Royal Airforce, 1919 – 1939’, some relevant excerpts from which are reproduced here:
http://tinyurl.com/2jywwr). 2) In February 1932 the League of Nations convened on disarmament. Germany moved for a total prohibition of bombing, but Britain insisted upon exempting bombing for “police purposes in certain outlying regions” (Lindqvist, Section 140). Lloyd George noted that, "we insisted on reserving the right to bomb niggers" (Chomsky, Year 501, Chapter 1, see
http://tinyurl.com/3297ry). 3) British war planes dropped more bombs on Iraqi targets in July / August 2007 than in the whole of the previous three years (
http://tinyurl.com/ypuqd7). Meanwhile, British troops in Afghanistan have called in US airstrikes ‘hundreds of times in recent months’ contributing to a rapidly mounting death toll of Afghan civilians ( http://tinyurl.com/25k524). A recent survey of deaths in Iraq estimated that roughly 116,000 Iraqis had been killed by aerial bombardment since the start of the 2003 invasion ( http://tinyurl.com/38qeyt). PRESS RELEASE
Voices UK www.voicesuk.org
Wednesday 24 October 2007
Contact 07952 354 722
LLOYD GEORGE’S ‘UTTERLY DISGRACEFUL’ LEGACY CONDEMNED AS NEW STATUE UNVEILED IN PARLIAMENT SQUARE.
Former PM bombed Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, and backed “the right to bomb niggers.”
Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter, journalist John Pilger, and the former UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Iraq, Denis Halliday, have all signed a letter, to be published tomorrow in The Telegraph, describing the celebration of Lloyd George’s legacy– a new statue of who is due to be unveiled in Parliament Square tomorrow (Thursday 25th October) at 2pm [1] – as ‘both highly topical and utterly disgraceful.’
George was PM between 1916 - 1922. During this period Britain used planes to bomb: Mashud, on India’s border with Afghanistan (1917); Dacca, Jalalabad, and Kabul (1919, during the “third Afghan war”); Egypt (1919); Enzeli in Iran (1920); Trans-Jordan (1920, killing 200 people); and, of course, Iraq [2].
In February 1932 the League of Nations convened a conference on disarmament. Germany moved for the total prohibition of aerial bombing, but Britain insisted on exempting bombing for “police purposes in certain outlying regions.” "We insisted on reserving the right to bomb niggers," Lloyd George noted [3].
In the letter, Pinter et al note that, “Today these vicious policies continue unabated. Thus, British war planes dropped more bombs on Iraqi targets in July / August of this year than in the whole of the previous three years [4]. Meanwhile, British troops in Afghanistan have called in hundreds of US airstrikes in recent months, contributing to the rapidly mounting civilian death toll [5]. One recent survey estimated that roughly 116,000 Iraqis had been killed by aerial bombardment since the start of the 2003 invasion [6]. All of which makes today’s celebration of George’s legacy both highly
topical and utterly disgraceful.”
ENDNOTES
[1] Lloyd George Society
http://lloydgeorgesociety.org.uk. [2] Sven Linqvist, ‘A History of Bombing’, Section 102. David Omissi, ‘Air Power and Colonial Control: The Royal Airforce, 1919 – 1939’ (see excerpts here:
http://tinyurl.com/2jywwr). [3] Victor Kiernan, ‘European empires from conquest to collapse 1815-1960’, p.200, cited in Noam Chomsky, ‘Year 501: The Conquest Continues’, Chapter 1, citing (
http://tinyurl.com/3297ry) [4] Massive increase in RAF bombing, Sunday Telegraph, 14/08/2007
http://tinyurl.com/ypuqd7 [5] Civilian death toll rises in the bloody battle of Helmand, The Observer, 12/08/2007
http://tinyurl.com/25k524 [6] See
http://tinyurl.com/38qeyt from www.opinion.co.uk
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