LONDON, September 26 (RIA Novosti), Mark Hirst – British support for air strikes in Iraq against the Islamic State (IS) raises questions about the "contradictory nature" of UK foreign policy, Ian Chamberlain, spokesman for the Stop the War Coalition has told RIA Novosti on Friday.
Chamberlain, whose organization coordinated the biggest mass demonstration in British history when 1.5 million Britons protested against the 2003 Iraq war told RIA Novosti, "Why is Britain continuing diplomatically, militarily to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia, a country that has been directly involved in funding and supplying weapons to ISIL and creating the problem of ISIL? Now the Saudis are part of the coalition which is meant to be destroying the Islamic State (IS) threat," he said.
"The contradictory nature to our foreign policy is something that needs to be discussed and something that should be addressed," Chamberlain stressed.
Chamberlain's comments came as MPs debated whether to approve air strikes against Islamic State in northern Iraq.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking in the House of Commons, said, "If we allow ISIL to grow and thrive there's no doubt in my mind that the level of threat to the country would increase."
But Chamberlain told RIA Novosti previous Western military interventions had proved counter-productive.
"The Stop the War Coalition opposes air strikes and the bombing of Iraq. The last 13 years in the "War on Terrorism" has shown that interventions like this don't work, in fact they do the opposite," Chamberlain said.
"In Afghanistan we were told bombing would remove the Taliban. Actually what we see 13 years on is a strengthened Taliban which is now the dominant force in Afghanistan," Chamberlain added.
"In Iraq where there wasn't previously an issue with Islamist terror or Islamist militia, today it is a very fractious, sectarian country where terrorism is growing. The idea that another bombing campaign that kills civilians and destroys infrastructure will not create more bitterness and more hatred and therefore more terrorism is just completely ridiculous," Chamberlain told RIA Novosti.
"It is quite incredible that just a few years after they withdrew militarily from Iraq that the West is now proposing to go back in. They have not learned the lessons of history," Chamberlain said.
Asked by RIA Novosti why there appeared to be little parliamentary opposition to military action Chamberlain said, "I think that what often happens in these situations is that if you oppose military intervention you are often presented as a supporter of whatever it is you are intervening against.
"There is a lot of pressure to be seen to do something," Chamberlain told RIA Novosti.
The Stop the War Coalition spokesman added that it was a "shame" that the Scottish National Party (SNP), the third largest political party in the UK, appeared set to bow to pressure and back military action just weeks after its leader, Alex Salmond, had said any military action would require UN backing.
"It is a shame if the SNP has bowed to that pressure, although the Green Party and some Labour MPs are opposing military action, as there are things we can do," Chamberlain said.
Chamberlain added that more focus was needed on the actions of the West and the Western allies.
"Turkey, a member of NATO, has been buying oil from IS and this is the problem; that these things aren't discussed at Westminster or elsewhere," Chamberlain told RIA Novosti.
"Cameron is talking about a coalition of about sixty countries as though that gives it some kind of democratic mandate, when some of these countries involved are themselves beheading people in their own country," Chamberlain added.
Stop the War Coalition spokesman said that Saudi Arabia has public beheadings at a rate of one per day.
"Apparently, as far as the West is concerned, that is not of equal value to what IS are doing. The hypocrisy is quite incredible and the relationship with Turkey is also something that needs to be questioned," Chamberlain added.
