The High Court has ruled that the Serious Fraud Office acted unlawfully when it ended its inquiry into the allegedly corrupt practices employed by British Aerospace in securing a multi-billion dollar arms deal with Saudi Arabia. Tony Blair and his Attorney General forced the ending of the probe in order to maintain good relations with the desert kingdom. Time and time again Britain has bent over backwards to appease the Saudis despite the regime's abuses of human rights and the support it has given to the most extreme forms of Islam. The Tories supported the decision at the time. The LibDems took the high road from the very beginning and have remained very critical of the whole affair. Vince Cable fingers Blair today.
Tony Blair's rhetoric in the war on terror has often failed to be matched in reality. Throughout the Blair years extremist clerics like Yusuf al Qaradawi were allowed into Britain and extremist organisations like Hizb uit-Tahrir were left unbanned. Just as his Government treated with the most violent representatives of Irish nationalism his Government treated with the least savoury representatives of British Islam. Our troops were sent into Iraq underfunded and left Basra with 70% of the city in criminal hands. Today's Times reveals that the British military released leading members of a Shia militia in return for a promise not to attack British troops as they retreated from Basra. American troops have enough challenges of their own in Iraq but they are being increasingly drawn into the south of the country, in order to provide support for the efforts of Iraqi security forces who are no longer aided by the British.
