Web Of Deceit: Britain's Real Foreign Policy Read online

  CONTENTS

  Cover

  About the Book

  About the Author

  Also by Mark Curtis

  List of Abbreviations

  Chronology of Major Events

  Title Page

  Author’s Introduction

  Foreword: by John Pilger

  Part I – THE OUTLAW STATE

  1. Iraq: Ignoring people, maintaining order

  2. Afghanistan: The new Unpeople

  3. Explaining the ‘war against terrorism’

  4. Big Brother, our favourite ally

  5. Israel: Siding with the aggressor

  6. Kosovo: Anti-humanitarian intervention

  7. Chechnya: A chronicle of complicity

  8. Labour’s real policy on arms exports

  Part II – ELITES AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

  9. Trading off international development

  10. The threat of democracy

  11. Our allies, the Gulf elites

  12. The forgotten past in the Middle East

  13. The single-ideology totalitarian state

  Part III – EXPOSING THE SECRET HISTORY

  14. Overthrowing the government of Iran

  15. Deterring development in Kenya

  16. Malaya: War in defence of the rubber industry

  17. British Guiana: Overstepping ‘decent government’

  Part IV – THE MASS PRODUCTION OF IGNORANCE

  18. Ethical foreign policies and other myths

  19. The media’s propaganda role

  20. Indonesia: Complicity in a million deaths

  21. East Timor: Smothering the birth of a nation

  22. Diego Garcia: Removing people from history

  23. The challenges ahead

  Notes

  Index

  Copyright

  About the Book

  In his explosive new book, Mark Curtis reveals a new picture of Britain’s role in the world since 1945 and in the ‘war against terrorism’ by offering a comprehensive critique of the Blair government’s foreign policy. Curtis argues that Britain is an ‘outlaw state’, often a violator of international law and ally of many repressive regimes. He reasons not only that Britain’s foreign policies are generally unethical but that they are also making the world more dangerous and unequal.

  The Web of Deceit describes the staggering gulf that has arisen between New Labour’s professed commitment to upholding ethical values and the reality of current policies. It outlines the new phase in global intervention, the immorality of British policy in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq and Indonesia and support for repressive governments in Israel, Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Curtis also reveals Britain’s acquiescence in the Rwanda genocide and economic policies in the World Trade Organisation that are increasing poverty and inequality around the world.

  Drawing on formerly secret government files, the book also shows British complicity in the slaughter of a million people in Indonesia in 1965; the depopulation of the island of Diego Garcia; the overthrow of governments in Iran and British Guiana; repressive colonial policies in Kenya, Malaya and Oman; and much more.

  About the Author

  Mark Curtis is a former Research Fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) and has written extensively on British and US foreign policies. His books include The Ambiguities of Power: British Foreign Policy since 1945 (Zed, London, 1995); The Great Deception: Anglo-American Power and World Order (Pluto, London, 1998); and Trade for Life: Making Trade Work for Poor People (Christian Aid, London, 2001). He has worked in the field of international development for the past ten years. His website address is: www.markcurtis.info

  Also by Mark Curtis

  Secret Affairs: Britain’s Collusion with Radical Islam

  Unpeople: Britain’s Secret Human Rights Abuses

  Trade For Life: Making Trade Work for Poor People

  The Great Deception: Anglo-American Power and World Order

  The Ambiguities of Power: British Foreign Policy Since 1945

  LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

  AIOC

  Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (later BP)

  ANC

  African National Congress

  BIOT

  British Indian Ocean Territory

  DFID

  Department for International Development

  DTI

  Department of Trade and Industry

  FAC

  Foreign Affairs Committee (House of Commons)

  GATS

  General Agreement on Trade in Services

  HRW

  Human Rights Watch

  IMF

  International Monetary Fund

  MAI

  Multilateral Agreement on Investment

  NATO

  North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

  NGO

  Non Governmental Organisation

  PKI

  Indonesian Communist Party

  TNC

  Transnational Corporation

  TRIPS

  Trade-related intellectual property rights

  UNCTAD

  United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

  UNDP

  United Nations Development Programme

  UNHCR

  United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

  WTO

  World Trade Organisation

  A CHRONOLOGY OF MAJOR EVENTS COVERED IN THIS BOOK

  1947

  Foreign Office describes Middle East oil in secret document as ‘a vital prize for any power interested in world influence or domination’.

  1948

  Britain declares ‘emergency’ in Malaya and begins 12-year war to defeat rebels, who are mainly marginalised Chinese. Britain secretly describes war as ‘in defence of [the] rubber industry’ and engages in widespread bombing, draconian police measures and ‘resettlement’ of hundreds of thousands of people in fortified ‘new villages’.

  1951

  June: Attlee government begins covert plan to overthrow Iranian prime minister Musaddiq following the latter’s nationalisation of oil operations.

  1952

  October: Britain declares state of emergency in colony of Kenya. British forces conduct human rights atrocities, establish Nazi-style concentration camps and ‘resettle’ hundreds of thousands of people in ‘protected villages’. Around 150,000 Africans die.

  1953

  August: Musaddiq government in Iran overthrown in MI6/CIA-organised coup. Shah installed in power as per London’s and Washington’s plans.

  1953

  October: Britain conducts military intervention in British Guiana to overthrow democratically elected government.

  1954

  July: US overthrows Guatemalan government of Jacobo Arbenz and US-backed junta seizes power. Britain aids US position at UN.

  1956

  October: Britain invades Egypt to remove nationalist president Nasser, eventually being forced to withdraw due to US and financial pressure. MI6 plans and carries out several assassination attempts against Nasser.

  1957

  July: Britain begins military intervention in Oman in support of extremely repressive regime against rebellion by Omani Liberation Army. SAS fights covert war and RAF conducts widespread bombing of villages and strongholds, defeating rebels by 1959.

  1958

  July: Britain conducts military intervention in Jordan, ostensibly to protect regime from alleged Egyptian-backed coup. Declassified documents suggest, however, that British planners fabricated the coup scenario to justify intervention.

  1961

  Death of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold in mys
terious plane crash while trying to secure peace in Congo. Recent evidence has emerged of possible MI5 involvement.

  1961

  US begins major intervention in Vietnam. As US atrocities mount in the war that follows, Britain secretly provides US with military intelligence, arms and covert SAS deployments, along with diplomatic support.

  1961

  July: Britain conducts military intervention in Kuwait, ostensibly to defend the country from imminent Iraqi invasion. Declassified documents suggest, however, that British planners fabricated the threat to justify intervention.

  1962

  MI6 and SAS begin covert operation in North Yemen that eventually involves providing arms, funding and logistical support to royalist rebels in dirty war against pro-Egyptian republican forces. Around 200,000 die in the war.

  1964

  Britain begins second war in support of Oman regime, against the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arabian Gulf, fought mainly covertly by the SAS. The ‘Dhofar Rebellion’ is defeated by 1975.

  1965

  October: Bloodbath in Indonesia begins as army moves against supporters of Indonesian Communist Party, reaching around a million deaths. Declassified documents show Britain aids the Indonesian army in conducting the slaughter through covert operations and secret messages of support.

  1968

  Britain begins illegal and secret removal of 1,500 population of Chagos islands, including Diego Garcia, following agreement to lease islands to US. Whitehall conspiracy begins, contending there are no indigenous inhabitants.

  1970

  July: British coup in Oman overthrows Sultan and installs his son. Sultan Qaboos remains in power today.

  1975

  December: Indonesia invades East Timor, leading to 200,000 deaths. In secret cable, British ambassador in Jakarta says Indonesia ‘should absorb the territory as soon and as unobtrusively as possible’ and that Britain ‘should avoid taking sides against the Indonesian government’.

  1980

  MI6 begins largest postwar covert operation in Afghanistan to train mojahidin groups fighting the Soviet occupation.

  1981

  US begins covert intervention against Nicaragua, training contra rebels in sabotage and terrorist operations. Britain provides strong diplomatic support to US and nod and wink to ‘security’ company, KMS, to train and recruit contra guerillas and conduct gun-running operations.

  1983

  October: US invades Grenada. British government privately furious at US failure to consult in invasion of Commonwealth country, but publicly backs intervention.

  1985

  First contract with Saudi Arabia signed in massive Al Yamamah arms deal. With second deal in 1988, overall worth is around £50 billion.

  1986

  Spring: MI6 begins supplying Afghan mojahidin groups with ‘Blowpipe’ shoulder-launched missiles, some of which are used to shoot down passenger airliners.

  1986

  April: US conducts air raids on Libya. Britain allows US use of British air bases and provides strong public support.

  1989

  December: US invades Panama. Britain is only major state to unstintingly support US.

  1991

  January: US, Britain and coalition begin massive bombing campaign against Iraq to force withdrawal from Kuwait following its invasion the previous August.

  1991

  April: Britain and US establish ‘no fly zones’ in northern and southern Iraq. They begin covert, permanent war of bombing in the zones.

  1991

  November: Indonesian forces massacre hundreds of peaceful demonstrators in Dili, East Timor. Britain continues arms exports and business as usual.

  1992

  MI6 draws up plans to assassinate Yugoslav president Milosevic, according to an MI6 official. These plans are apparently not carried out.

  1993

  June: US conducts cruise missile attacks against Iraq. Britain provides political support.

  1994

  April: Rwanda genocide begins, quickly killing a million people. Britain effectively aids the slaughter by helping to reduce UN force that could have prevented the killings, in helping to delay other plans for intervention and in resisting use of the term ‘genocide’ which would have obligated the international community to act.

  1996

  MoD quietly sends first of several training teams to assist Saudi Arabia in ‘internal security’ as part of wider support to Saudi Arabian National Guard, the force that protects the ruling family.

  1996

  February: Assassination and coup attempt against Libya’s Colonel Qadafi with, according to former MI5 officer David Shayler, MI6 funds and backing.

  1996

  April: British-supplied Scorpion light tanks used in Indonesia to repress demonstrators. It is the first of eight known occasions in 1996–2000 that British armoured cars are used for internal repression. Blair government continues arms to Indonesia.

  1996

  September: US conducts cruise missile attacks against Iraq. Britain provides political support.

  1997

  February: Labour leader Tony Blair reassures BAE Systems, Britain’s largest arms company, that ‘winning exports is vital to the long term success of Britain’s defence industry’.

  1998

  August: US launches cruise missile attacks against Al Qaida training camps in Afghanistan and a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan. Britain provides strong political support.

  1998

  December: US and Britain begin four-day heavy bombing campaign against Iraq, followed by weeks-long secret escalation of bombing in ‘no fly zones’.

  1999

  March: Britain and NATO begin bombing campaign against Milosevic’s Yugoslavia over Kosovo. The humanitarian catastrophe that Western leaders claim they are preventing is in reality precipitated by NATO bombing.

  1999

  April: Former members of Kenyan Mau Mau movement announce they are suing British government for human rights atrocities committed in 1950s.

  1999

  August/September: Around 5,000 are killed in East Timor and 500,000 forced to flee from Indonesian-backed terror around the vote for independence. Britain continues arms sales to Jakarta and finally agrees only to delay not stop them, while inviting Indonesia to an arms fair in Britain. Blair government tries to take credit for stopping Indonesian violence by helping to establish UN peace enforcement mission.

  1999

  October: Chinese premier Jiang Zemin visits Britain. Blair government refuses to raise human rights issues publicly, while police deny protesters the right to peaceful assembly and illegally seize Tibetan flags.

  2000

  January: Chinese defence minister, General Chi Haotian, who commanded the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, visits Britain to explore ‘military cooperation’, showing London’s apparent defiance of EU arms embargo on China.

  2000

  February: As Russian forces ferociously bomb the Chechnyan capital, Grozny, reducing the city to rubble, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook says he ‘understood’ Russia’s problems in Chechnya.

  2000

  July: British national Ian Henderson resigns as adviser to Bahraini government after career as head of repressive internal security service.

  2000

  November: High Court rules against government that Chagos islanders be allowed to return to some of their homeland islands, but not Diego Garcia.

  2001

  British arms exports reach £5 billion for 2001.

  2001

  February: US/British airstrikes against Iraq in response to alleged threats to aircraft in ‘no fly zones’.

  2001

  August: US and Britain secretly step up bombing campaign in ‘no fly zones’ in Iraq.

  2001

  October: US and Britain begin massive bombing campaign against Al Qaida and Taliban regime in Afghanistan following terrorist attacks of September 11th. Civilian deaths in the war ou
tnumber those killed on September 11th.