Opinions

The Brexit madness and the neoconservative movement

Published by

6 years ago

THERE is an uncanny parallel between the Brexit movement and the neoconservative movement that saw America embark on the futile second Iraq war. On March 20, 2003, America dropped bombs on a sleepy Iraqi farming village which had been incorrectly identified by faulty intelligence as the hiding place of Saddam Hussein, then dictator of Iraq. No matter. Thus, it set off the second Iraq war that has devastated the country and claimed almost half a million people, including 5,000 American servicemen, both before and after the declaration of the caliphate by ISIS in June 2014. ISIS may no longer hold territory, it is rapidly transforming into a guerrilla terrorist outfit. This war is not over.

The main premise of the war was that Hussein was complicit in the bombing of the twin towers in New York, and more importantly, he was hiding “weapons of mass destruction (WMD).”

But after over 700 inspections of Iraq by a United Nations (UN)-led team, no weapon of mass destruction was identified. More embarrassing to the neoconservatives, after Iraq had been overrun by the Americans and the British, no WMD was found.

Neoconservatives (popularly known as the NeoCons) are far right wing American nativists who believe in American exceptionalism (sort of a ‘we are the best in the world, so like it or lump it’ attitude), promotion of democracy and peace through the projection of strength. Their influence peaked during the administration of George W. Bush when they played a major role in promoting and planning the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Prominent among them were Paul Wolfowitz, Elliot Abrams, Richard Perle, and Paul Bremer. But the faces of neo-conservatism more projected to the rest of the world were Dick Cheyney, then vice-president to Bush; and Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. The NeoCons argued that the United States should challenge evil regimes in the Mideast and Asia, spread freedom, democracy and capitalism, jettison cold war thinking based on deterrence and containment, and de-emphasise old treaties and alliances that get in the way. Instead of seeking to manage or contain problems and threats, the NeoCons wanted the US to dominate to eradicate them.

Not everybody bought into their Hubris. Some warned that in their rush to overthrow Hussein, they had neither weighed the risk of internecine warfare within Iraq, nor calculated the cost to the American treasury. This group of Americans tried vainly to convince the rest of the world that Saddam had a role to play in the Al-Qaeda inspired bombing of the twin towers in downtown Manhattan, New York, on September 11, 2001. The evidence for the involvement of Saddam was thin on the ground, and a reluctant General Collin Powell, then the secretary of state to Bush, provided some satellite photographs, purportedly showing nuclear weapons silos in Iraq, to a UN General Assembly that was not persuaded.

Apparently seeing the scarcely disguised reluctance of Powell to push ahead with this war (Powell had famously said invading Iraq was like breaking pottery in a shop: “You break it, you own it!”), Bush moved to replace him with the more pliant Condoleezza Rice. Matters were not helped by Tony Blair, then prime minister of the United Kingdom (UK), who readily jumped on the bandwagon of the Iraq invasion. His government came up with a famous dossier that was put together by MI6, the British intelligence outfit, which purportedly proved that the Iraqis did have WMD. The ‘dodgy dossier’, as it came to be known, was later repudiated by David Kelly, a weapons intelligence insider, who pointed out that it was based on faulty intelligence. He later purportedly committed suicide on July 17, 2003. Was he murdered? An inquiry did not think so, but doubts remain.

Now, let us look at Brexit. The promoters of Brexit are mainly to be found in the Eurosceptic wing of the conservative party. Their mantra: to take control of our borders and free UK from the shackles of European Union (EU) membership, allowing ‘free unfettered trade’ with the rest of the world! If that sounds lofty, so did the mantra of the NeoCons. The Brexiteers put so much pressure on the central committee of the conservative party that it forced the party to promise an in-out referendum in the manifesto. It fell to poor former Prime Minister David Cameron to deliver on the promise of a referendum. Since Cameron had recently won a referendum on the Scottish independence, he expectedly felt confident that he would easily win the referendum in favour of “remain.”

Boris Johnson, the rather corpulent former foreign minister and former mayor of London, with his trademark shock of unkempt blond hair, led the campaign to leave, in cahoots with Michael Gove, Chris Grayling, Penny Mordaunt and Andrea Leadsom. Nigel Farage, a British-Nazi-type right wing skinhead, scarcely disguised as a gentleman in the robes of a European MP and founding member of UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party) was a face of Brexit so odious that the others kept him at bay during the campaign.

As in the Iraq war, the tenet of the leave campaign was based on fiction: emblazoned on the side of buses was the claim that ‘we will take back control of £350 million per week for the NHS once we leave the EU.’ That proved to be a mirage.

This was one of other lies loudly proclaimed by the leave campaign. The other lies: ‘Absolutely nobody is threatening our place in the single market’ –Daniel Hannan. The deal being bandied around by Theresa May has nothing of the sort in it.

‘The EU economy is highly regulated and protectionist’ –Jacob Rees-Mogg. This is not the case at all. Turkey (with 76 million population) is joining the EU with its Muslim hordes. Most of the EU 27 are not eager to have Turkey join up.

Against speculation, the process has been peaceful —Oyetola

An investigation into the campaign practices of the leave campaign found that they were guilty of being ‘less than honest’ with the electorate.

Brexit campaign group, Vote Leave, was fined £61,000 and referred to the police by the Electoral Commission probe. The watchdog said it exceeded its £7 million spending limit by funneling £675,315 through pro-Brexit youth group, BeLeave. The founder of BeLeave, Darren Grimes, was also fined £20,000 and referred to the police, along with Vote Leave official, David Halsall.

As things stand, the UK will be poorer economically under any form of Brexit, compared with staying in the EU, as shown by new government analysis. Official figures say the UK economy could be up to 3.9 per cent smaller after 15 years under Theresa May’s Brexit plan, compared with staying in the EU. But a no-deal Brexit could deliver a 9.3 per cent hit, the new estimates say. In addition, as we speak, over £1 trillion in assets have already been moved to mainland Europe by the financial sector. More is bound to follow. The floodgates might just be flung open, if there is a no deal scenario.

All these realities do not worry the Brexiteers who are ready to plunge on regardless.

One Irish commentator, David McWilliam, summed it all up ruefully: “What the Brits have done is really stupid. The world is revolving so quickly that nobody cares whether the UK gets this right or not…If they want to go down some sort of nationalist rathole, off they go.”

The hubris of the NeoCons in 2003 is mirrored by the recklessness of the Brexiteers in 2018. They will cause severe damage to the British people and economy. They may precipitate a breakup of the UK and then, they will hide away, pretending as if they had nothing to do with the mess they are actively creating.

Donald Tusk, the EU council president, has this promise for them: The Brexiteers forcing Britain out of the EU with no well thought out plan deserve a ‘special place in hell.’

So do the NeoCons of America.