It’s not America, stupid

Brace yourself for new outbursts of stupid and depoliticised anti-Americanism. Lord Goldsmith has told the enquiry that some of George Bush’s guys helped change his mind over the legality of the Iraq war. To be fair to the man, he was in a difficult position. He had to explain his apparent u turn on Iraq’s legality. Pretty difficult when you think that considering such questions was his day job. Back in the day he might have claimed to have come under the influence of diabolical forces. Yet today our attention will be focused on them big bad Americans, who – judging by the way the issue gets discussed – appear to have cajolled our peace loving ruling class into a war. Once again we will hear the tired rhetoric about britain being the 51st state, as though the British establishment do not themselves harbour any grand designs, or have an interest in cheap oil. Some
time soon we might even hear once again about how the British did a decent job in Basra, but it was all fucked up by those gung Ho Americans. In a week in which the British government has refused compensation for those punitively castrated by our boys during the mau mau wars, such rhetoric is particularly senseless.