Is there another small global trend developing, a tiny cresting of what may one day become quite a different kind of oppositional wave — from defecting insiders? There was only one Daniel Ellsberg during the Vietnam War. What if it turns out that there are bushels of Ellsbergs in the coming years — leakers, refusniks, resigners, opposers — all on the inside demanding out?
Yesterday, a possible leaker of a secret NSA memo calling for a heightened American spying campaign against various UN delegations was arrested in England. She works inside British intelligence. This leak has hardly been covered in our press, but it may indicate more widespread opposition within the U.S. and British intelligence services to the Bush administration and its war policies. Last week, John Brady Kiesling, a minor American diplomat in Athens, wrote an eloquent letter of resignation to his boss Colin Powell, denouncing Bush administration policies as folly. (Both the leaked NSA memo and his letter were sent out in my dispatches last week.) Brown University professor William O. Beeman, remembering a meeting with Cyrus Vance, the last Secretary of State to resign from office over a policy disagreement, recently called on Powell to do the same. (“Kiesling, the career diplomat in the Athens embassy, has shown his boss the way. It’s time for Powell to show his true mettle and leave the fray while his honor is still relatively intact.” ) This seems an unlikely scenario. But when the ship of state starts leaking you simply never know who might jump overboard.
Now, in England, comes the first official crack in Tony Blair’s cabinet. The Guardian reports today that Clare Short, the international development secretary, has announced that, without a second UN resolution, she will quit the cabinet, “opening of floodgates to a catastrophic rebellion in his own ranks” (as the newspaper puts it). And, it turns out, another far more minor figure, like the American diplomat in Athens, has already resigned in protest.
“Speaking at what she described as ‘ten minutes to midnight,’ Ms Short [said]: ‘If there is not UN authority for military action, or if there is not UN authority for the reconstruction of the country, I will not uphold a breach of international law or this undermining of the UN, and I will resign from the government. The whole atmosphere of the current situation is deeply reckless; reckless for the world, reckless for the undermining of the UN in this disorderly world, which is wider than Iraq, reckless with our government, reckless with his own future, position and place in history. It’s extraordinarily reckless ‘
“Earlier yesterday Andy Reed, the hitherto obscure parliamentary aide to Margaret Beckett, the environment secretary, resigned over Iraq. As many as 10 parliamentary aides or parliamentary private secretaries are threatening to do likewise.”
Again in England, the British newspaper the Telegraph carried an anonymous piece by “a serving officer” rejecting present policy in the Gulf, and admitting that the turning point for him came when his wife let him know that she could no longer tell colleagues he was part of the British military force slated to fight in the Gulf. The reactions were too hostile.
Israel’s military “refusniks” have bravely forged a path of resistance from within the Israeli military to occupation policies under the most difficult, least promising of circumstances. Their efforts in the name of a greater patriotism may be a harbinger of things to come elsewhere — and so I include a piece from the British Observer on a Netanyahu who won’t serve.
“Earlier yesterday Andy Reed, the hitherto obscure parliamentary aide to Margaret Beckett, the environment secretary, resigned over Iraq. As many as 10 parliamentary aides or parliamentary private secretaries are threatening to do likewise.”
Again in England, the British newspaper the Telegraph carried an anonymous piece by “a serving officer” rejecting present policy in the Gulf, and admitting that the turning point for him came when his wife let him know that she could no longer tell colleagues he was part of the British military force slated to fight in the Gulf. The reactions were too hostile.
Israel’s military “refusniks” have bravely forged a path of resistance from within the Israeli military to occupation policies under the most difficult, least promising of circumstances. Their efforts in the name of a greater patriotism may be a harbinger of things to come elsewhere — and so I include a piece from the British Observer on a Netanyahu who won’t serve.
Could it be that even our imperial press is showing signs of defecting? Yesterday, the New York Times took a major step toward defection, printing a strong lead editorial, Saying No to War. (“If it comes down to a question of yes or no to invasion without broad international support, our answer is no. The whole scenario calls to mind that Vietnam-era catch phrase about how we had to destroy a village in order to save it.”) This represents a reversal of editorial tides at the Times.
Looked at another way, as Eric Margolis writes in his Sunday column in the Toronto Sun, whole countries are defecting — or rather, the defecting force in the world is the Bush administration.
There has always been a dream that went something like this: What if they gave a war and nobody came? It won’t happen this time, but nothing could be scarier to this administration than defections from within — whether within its system of alliances, its intelligence services, its military, or even the media. Tom
Why I am going to the Gulf with a heavy heart
By a serving officer
The [British] Telegraph
March 9, 2003I have been a serving officer in Her Majesty’s Armed Forces for more than 23 years and I am as proud to serve Britain today as I was when I was commissioned in 1980. I have seen British servicemen fight, die and kill for their country. I was involved in operations in the Falklands War, the Gulf War and peace-keeping in Bosnia. I am proud that I fought for my country.
After the Gulf War, I helped to administer and enforce the no-fly zones over Iraq. Since then I have returned to the Gulf theatre of operations several times and have seen the success which the no-fly zones have had in containing Saddam Hussein.
Over the last few months, however, I have grown increasingly uneasy with the British Government’s policy towards Iraq and the seemingly inevitable war.
To read more of “a serving officer” click here
Netanyahu nephew faces jail as army refusenik
By Conal Urquhart
March 9, 2003
The ObserverHis grandparents fought to establish the state of his Israel and his father and uncles fought to defend it from aggression. One of his uncles is among Israel’ s foremost hawks, the former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Yet on Tuesday, Jonathan Ben Artzi faces three years imprisonment for refusing to serve in the Israeli army.
Ben Artzi, 20, had already served 214 days in military jail and is being detained on a military base until his trial. He is one of a group of men whose refusal to serve in the army is dividing Israeli society and has forced the military hierarchy to take a strong stand.
He is one of nine men facing courts martial for refusing to do their military service and has been designated a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.
To read more on Netanyahu click here
Why France Is America’s True Friend
By Eric Margolis, contributing foreign editor
The Toronto Sun
March 9, 2003MIAMI — Watching American TV can be a surreal experience. Sandwiched between ads for instant weight loss products, predigested fast food, and incontinence panties, cable TV commentators bay like rabid dogs for war against Iraq, and subject nations daring to oppose President Bush’s crusade to venomous abuse or sneering disdain.
France, which speaks with the strongest, most logical voice of those opposing war, has become the special target of vituperation and hatred in America’s leading neo-conservative media – Fox TV, the Wall Street Journal, New York Post – and the Bush administration’s bete noire. Particularly so, now that France, Germany, and Russia vow to veto U.S. attempts to ram a war-enabling resolution through the UN Security Council.
To read more Margolis click here