Mick Hall sees a serious misrepresentation from warmongers of a genuine anti-war critique.  Mick Hall is a Marxist blogger @ Organized Rage.

No lie is too big or small for a political system that puts the struggle for petty partisan advantage above all else.
    
STW organised one million march against 2003 Iraq war.

The Blairites and their supporters in the media have attempted to use an article by Chris Floyd, which appeared for a short time on the Stop the War web site, as a stick to beat the LP leader Jeremy Corbyn and the anti war movement.

Tristram Hunt, the Oxford educated son of a life peer who was 'ennobled' by Tony Blair, willingly lit the blue touch paper by claiming on the Andrew Marr show that Jeremy Corbyn should step back from the 'disreputable' Stop the War Coalition and cancel his appointment to attend their fundraising dinner.

It's clear from reading Chris Floyd's article which supposedly provoked Hunt outburst, the Blairite MP had not even read it before he appeared on the Marr show and claimed this:
We’ve also seen some pretty ugly comments from them about Hilary Benn and the fact Hilary Benn should be sacked, and also , actually, their comments on Islamic State, their comments about how the French almost had it coming to them.
 
As if by magic the following day the MSM was full of nonsensical lies about the STW claiming those killed in Paris deserved to die. As Chris points out in the letter below which was published in the Guardian, nothing could be further from the truth.

What is interesting about Hunt's intervention is how much hate and venom the Blairites have held onto down the years towards all, and any who have challenged their masters voice.

For all its faults, in 2003 the Stop the War Coalition played a magnificent role in British life when it organised the public opposition to the Iraq invasion and occupation which culminated with the one million people protest march against the war.

Most Labour people believe this nation owes STW a debt of gratitude for speaking up for them when most leading British politicians, including Cameron and Benn, were lying through their teeth about the reasons for going to war.

 

Chris Floyd letter

Dear Editor

As the author of the original “reaping the whirlwind” blogpost that was briefly re-posted (without my knowledge and with a tweaked headline) by the Stop the War Coalition, I can assure Tristram Hunt and all the other MPs who have used the piece as a political football that it did not say or imply that the people of France or “French policy” were to blame for the Paris attacks (Corbyn rejects call to pull out of Stop the War event, 6 December). Every public reference to the post has been a complete mischaracterisation of its content.

The post states clearly that we in the west, all of us, are paying for the consequences of many decades of collusion with – and manipulation of – religious extremism by our leaders in order to advance various geopolitical goals. Is this even a controversial or “disreputable” statement? For example, does anyone, even the prime minister, dispute that the rise of Isis stems directly from 2003 invasion of Iraq by the US and UK? The post also dealt with other historical follies, such as creating an international jihad army to draw the Soviets into Afghanistan (a ploy that
Zbigniew Brzezinski has proudly admitted), and the decades-long support of religious extremists such as Saudi Arabia.

Even some supporters of bombing
Syria say that our past crimes and follies in the region make us responsible for taking action now to rectify their horrific consequences. One can argue whether new military action is the best way to do this; I don’t think it is. But the views in the blogpost are not beyond the pale of human decency, to be shunned at all cost. On the contrary, they have been part of mainstream political debate for years.

I’m not a member of the Labour party or StWC or Momentum or any other political group. It has been disheartening – though highly instructive – to see how the opinions of a private citizen can be so twisted by a political system that puts the struggle for petty partisan advantage above all else.

Chris Floyd

No Lie Is Too Big Or Small

Mick Hall sees a serious misrepresentation from warmongers of a genuine anti-war critique.  Mick Hall is a Marxist blogger @ Organized Rage.

No lie is too big or small for a political system that puts the struggle for petty partisan advantage above all else.
    
STW organised one million march against 2003 Iraq war.

The Blairites and their supporters in the media have attempted to use an article by Chris Floyd, which appeared for a short time on the Stop the War web site, as a stick to beat the LP leader Jeremy Corbyn and the anti war movement.

Tristram Hunt, the Oxford educated son of a life peer who was 'ennobled' by Tony Blair, willingly lit the blue touch paper by claiming on the Andrew Marr show that Jeremy Corbyn should step back from the 'disreputable' Stop the War Coalition and cancel his appointment to attend their fundraising dinner.

It's clear from reading Chris Floyd's article which supposedly provoked Hunt outburst, the Blairite MP had not even read it before he appeared on the Marr show and claimed this:
We’ve also seen some pretty ugly comments from them about Hilary Benn and the fact Hilary Benn should be sacked, and also , actually, their comments on Islamic State, their comments about how the French almost had it coming to them.
 
As if by magic the following day the MSM was full of nonsensical lies about the STW claiming those killed in Paris deserved to die. As Chris points out in the letter below which was published in the Guardian, nothing could be further from the truth.

What is interesting about Hunt's intervention is how much hate and venom the Blairites have held onto down the years towards all, and any who have challenged their masters voice.

For all its faults, in 2003 the Stop the War Coalition played a magnificent role in British life when it organised the public opposition to the Iraq invasion and occupation which culminated with the one million people protest march against the war.

Most Labour people believe this nation owes STW a debt of gratitude for speaking up for them when most leading British politicians, including Cameron and Benn, were lying through their teeth about the reasons for going to war.

 

Chris Floyd letter

Dear Editor

As the author of the original “reaping the whirlwind” blogpost that was briefly re-posted (without my knowledge and with a tweaked headline) by the Stop the War Coalition, I can assure Tristram Hunt and all the other MPs who have used the piece as a political football that it did not say or imply that the people of France or “French policy” were to blame for the Paris attacks (Corbyn rejects call to pull out of Stop the War event, 6 December). Every public reference to the post has been a complete mischaracterisation of its content.

The post states clearly that we in the west, all of us, are paying for the consequences of many decades of collusion with – and manipulation of – religious extremism by our leaders in order to advance various geopolitical goals. Is this even a controversial or “disreputable” statement? For example, does anyone, even the prime minister, dispute that the rise of Isis stems directly from 2003 invasion of Iraq by the US and UK? The post also dealt with other historical follies, such as creating an international jihad army to draw the Soviets into Afghanistan (a ploy that
Zbigniew Brzezinski has proudly admitted), and the decades-long support of religious extremists such as Saudi Arabia.

Even some supporters of bombing
Syria say that our past crimes and follies in the region make us responsible for taking action now to rectify their horrific consequences. One can argue whether new military action is the best way to do this; I don’t think it is. But the views in the blogpost are not beyond the pale of human decency, to be shunned at all cost. On the contrary, they have been part of mainstream political debate for years.

I’m not a member of the Labour party or StWC or Momentum or any other political group. It has been disheartening – though highly instructive – to see how the opinions of a private citizen can be so twisted by a political system that puts the struggle for petty partisan advantage above all else.

Chris Floyd

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