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«Diplomats rebuke PM on Middle East
Rebuke for PM on Middle East
Ewen MacAskill, diplomatic editor
Tuesday April 27, 2004
The Guardian
Fifty-two former British diplomats yesterday delivered a damning critique of Tony Blair's close alliance with George Bush and their "doomed" Middle East policy.
The former diplomats, many of whom served as ambassadors in Israel, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and other parts of the region, sent a joint letter to Downing Street.
They told the prime minister they had "watched with deepening concern the policies which you have followed on the Arab-Israel problem and Iraq, in close cooperation with the United States".
They condemned a US strategy in Iraq they see as over-reliant on force. "Heavy weapons unsuited to the task in hand, inflammatory language, the current confrontations in Najaf and Falluja, all these have built up rather than isolated the opposition," they said.
But the spark for the letter came from an abrupt change in policy towards the Palestinians announced by Mr Bush in Washington last month and apparently endorsed by Mr Blair. Mr Bush, after meeting the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, supported the continuation of the bulk of the illegal Jewish settlements on the Palestinian West Bank.
Such a letter from diplomats with wide experience in the region - one of them, Richard Muir, was ambassador to Kuwait until 2002 - is an embarrassment for Mr Blair.
The former diplomats said Mr Blair needed to show as a "matter of the highest urgency" he has real influence in Washington. "If that is unacceptable or unwelcome, there is no case for supporting policies which are doomed to failure."
They pleaded with MPs to respond to their initiative.
A Downing Street spokesman played down the criticism: "The [government's] position on the issues raised in this letter are well-known. The authors of the letter are entitled to express their views."
The spokesman insisted that the Sharon plan offered an opportunity to return to peace negotiations.
The former diplomats disagree. One of the sig natories, Sir Harold "Hooky" Walker, the last British ambassador to Iraq, said they saw Mr Bush's support for Mr Sharon's plan as a huge departure from an international framework for a Middle East settlement that had been understood by everyone for 40 years, and they were concerned about Mr Blair's apparent support for this.
"We thought this was very significant and very sad," Sir Harold said.
The letter originated with Oliver Miles, British ambassador to Libya in 1984 and ambassador to Greece until 1996. "It is an indication of our serious concern that what is probably the biggest ever such collective group has gone straight to government in this way," Mr Miles said.
Although publicly the Foreign Office backed the Downing Street line, in private many serving diplomats opposed the war in Iraq and are critical of the way the US has handled the postwar situation. They are also hostile about Mr Sharon's conduct towards the Palestinians.
Sir Menzies Campbell MP, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said: "This is a most remarkable intervention in the debate about the Middle East from a group of people who are almost certainly the most expert in Britain on the issue.
"The prime minister would be well advised to take account of their criticisms".
The letter came as the Foreign Office formally announced that Edward Chaplin, head of the Middle East and North Africa department at the Foreign Office, is to become ambassador to Iraq on July 1. Mr Chaplin was briefly kidnapped by Revolutionary Guards in Iran in 1987.»
(In The Guardian, 27/04/2004)
Rebuke for PM on Middle East
Ewen MacAskill, diplomatic editor
Tuesday April 27, 2004
The Guardian
Fifty-two former British diplomats yesterday delivered a damning critique of Tony Blair's close alliance with George Bush and their "doomed" Middle East policy.
The former diplomats, many of whom served as ambassadors in Israel, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and other parts of the region, sent a joint letter to Downing Street.
They told the prime minister they had "watched with deepening concern the policies which you have followed on the Arab-Israel problem and Iraq, in close cooperation with the United States".
They condemned a US strategy in Iraq they see as over-reliant on force. "Heavy weapons unsuited to the task in hand, inflammatory language, the current confrontations in Najaf and Falluja, all these have built up rather than isolated the opposition," they said.
But the spark for the letter came from an abrupt change in policy towards the Palestinians announced by Mr Bush in Washington last month and apparently endorsed by Mr Blair. Mr Bush, after meeting the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, supported the continuation of the bulk of the illegal Jewish settlements on the Palestinian West Bank.
Such a letter from diplomats with wide experience in the region - one of them, Richard Muir, was ambassador to Kuwait until 2002 - is an embarrassment for Mr Blair.
The former diplomats said Mr Blair needed to show as a "matter of the highest urgency" he has real influence in Washington. "If that is unacceptable or unwelcome, there is no case for supporting policies which are doomed to failure."
They pleaded with MPs to respond to their initiative.
A Downing Street spokesman played down the criticism: "The [government's] position on the issues raised in this letter are well-known. The authors of the letter are entitled to express their views."
The spokesman insisted that the Sharon plan offered an opportunity to return to peace negotiations.
The former diplomats disagree. One of the sig natories, Sir Harold "Hooky" Walker, the last British ambassador to Iraq, said they saw Mr Bush's support for Mr Sharon's plan as a huge departure from an international framework for a Middle East settlement that had been understood by everyone for 40 years, and they were concerned about Mr Blair's apparent support for this.
"We thought this was very significant and very sad," Sir Harold said.
The letter originated with Oliver Miles, British ambassador to Libya in 1984 and ambassador to Greece until 1996. "It is an indication of our serious concern that what is probably the biggest ever such collective group has gone straight to government in this way," Mr Miles said.
Although publicly the Foreign Office backed the Downing Street line, in private many serving diplomats opposed the war in Iraq and are critical of the way the US has handled the postwar situation. They are also hostile about Mr Sharon's conduct towards the Palestinians.
Sir Menzies Campbell MP, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said: "This is a most remarkable intervention in the debate about the Middle East from a group of people who are almost certainly the most expert in Britain on the issue.
"The prime minister would be well advised to take account of their criticisms".
The letter came as the Foreign Office formally announced that Edward Chaplin, head of the Middle East and North Africa department at the Foreign Office, is to become ambassador to Iraq on July 1. Mr Chaplin was briefly kidnapped by Revolutionary Guards in Iran in 1987.»
(In The Guardian, 27/04/2004)
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