Neocons: Blair will join US in illegal Iran attack

Neocon Nile Gardiner of the Heritage Foundation said the following in the run up to the Iraq war:

"The full extent of the ties between Iraq and al-Qaida will only be revealed once Iraq has been liberated by Allied forces. The same goes for weapons of mass destruction and the extent of human rights violations by the Baghdad regime."

This is clearly a man with some dubious history - and who seems as yet to have failed to learn from past mistakes. Now, writing in the Boston Globe, he shamelessly attempts to liken the situation in Iran and international scepticism towards America's attempts to provoke a crisis that will, they hope, lead to military action and regime change, with Nazi appeasement policies in 1930's Europe.

Gardiner [and Joseph Loconte] go on to identify our very own neocon Prime Minister - Anthony Charles Lynton Blair - as the man likely in their view, despite overwhelming opposition, to step up to the mark, Churchill style, and plunge Britain headlong into another illegal war of aggression - a war that not only could see the first use of nuclear weapons since 1945 [killing perhaps hundreds of thousands of innocent Iranians], but that would, without doubt, bring terrorism onto the streets of the UK the like of which nightmares are made of - not to mention the deaths of an untold number of British servicemen:

IN OCTOBER of 1938, in the heat of the crisis over German intervention in Czechoslovakia, Winston Churchill appealed to the United States to help thwart the Nazi war machine. ''Does anyone pretend that preparation for resistance to aggression is unleashing war?" he asked. ''I declare it to be the sole guarantee of peace." The Allies were not prepared to resist German aggression at that crucial moment. The result was a policy of appeasement -- the infamous Munich Agreement -- which abandoned Czechoslovakia into Nazi hands and set the stage for Hitler's blitzkrieg in Europe.

In the current standoff with Iran, the West is approaching what can fairly be described as another Munich moment

...As America's closest ally, and the only partner able to contribute extensively to military operations, Great Britain must forge a strategic alliance with Washington to check Iran's nuclear ambitions. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair should hold crisis talks to discuss a range of options. Both the United States and UK should push for Israel's admission to NATO as a security guarantee against Iranian threats. Finally, the Pentagon and the UK Ministry of Defense should discuss a potential Anglo-American military operation, sending a clear warning signal to the mullahs in Tehran.

Blair has already hinted at military action to halt Iran's nuclear development. In addition, British defense chiefs reportedly held secret talks last month with officials from Downing Street and the Foreign Office to discuss the implications of military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities

No one doubts that air raids against Iran would present serious political and military risks for both the United States and British governments. Bush and Blair have approval ratings at all-time lows. With growing disillusionment in the UK and the United States over the war in Iraq, a campaign against the largest power in the Middle East would face strong domestic opposition. For Blair, the issue could split his Cabinet and the ruling Labour Party and prompt a rebellion by left-wing backbenchers, who favor a policy of appeasement toward the mullahs.

Yet the British prime minister and his closest advisers are acutely aware of the strategic -- and moral -- threat posed by Iran. Through their experience with Security Council negotiations over Iraq, they also understand the limits of international diplomacy. They're likely to conclude that the risks to British national security of a nuclear-armed Iran outweigh the political drawbacks of military action.

When Britain and America faced a similar crisis -- a totalitarian menace and a feckless League of Nations -- they sought one another out. As Churchill implored his American audience: ''We need the swift gathering of forces to confront not only military but moral aggression; the resolute and sober acceptance of their duty by the English-speaking peoples and by all the nations, great and small, who wish to walk with them."

Britain will likely walk again with the United States if it is forced to confront Iran militarily.[db emphasis]

THIS MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN