Government 'Split' as Killing Continues

According to the reports this morning, a split is emerging in Blair's cabinet regarding the war against the people of the Lebanon. Jack Straw has reportedly stated that Israeli actions are 'disproportionate' and has warned of the consequences of the continuation of the violence. However, one must use caution when analysing these remarks. Straw represents a large Muslim community in Blackburn and it is clear that they have raised their concerns to Straw in public. Straw, therefore, had no choice but to voice these concerns simply to protect his own skin. He is, like all politicians, desperate to cling to power and is clearly scared of being kicked out at the next election (as a great deal of New Labour MPs will). Of course, Tony Blair has gone on record as saying that there is no 'split' in his cabinet and that they are united in supporting the ongoing onslaught. Has a British PM ever been so guilty of war crimes in our history? How many civilians have died under his leadership??

Meanwhile, as our blood-stained PM strums his guitar, the bombardment continues. This morning, 40 civilians were killed in Qana after an Israeli bombing raid. Of course the same excuses were trotted out by the Israeli government. They had told people to leave the area or risk being caught up in the fight against Hezbollah. There seems to me to be two real problems with this strategy by the Israelis, aside from the obvious war crimes that are being committed. If people do leave the area, they run the risk of being attacked on the roads leaving the towns and cities. Furthermore, while the residents with cars are able to leave their homes, what about the poor and sick who are unable to leave? Are they to be bombed out of existence as well?? After all, if they stay they are clearly terrorists, right?

It seems to me that the 'War on Terror' is being fought alongside a 'War on Poverty'. Unfortunately this isn't the cuddly Geldof/Bono version, this is a Bush/Blair version. The Bush/Blair doctrine consists of eradicating the poor through 'poverty cleansing'. Essentially, the wealthy countries of the world go to war with the poorer nations in an effort to eradicate poverty. Hence we have Israel (wealthy) bombing the crap out of Lebanon (poor). We have the US and UK governments (wealthy) bombing the crap out of Iraq (poor - after the UN sanctions). We have the US/UK (wealthy) and Afghanistan (poor). And what happens when a conflict brews between two poor countries (Somalia and Ethiopia)? You just get the two poor bastards to slug it out while you stand on the sidelines and watch the 'poverty cleansing' in action. And what happens when two rich countries slug it out? I guess we'll never know.