ACTION NEIL KINNOCK and Labour's front bench IN AN ALL-DAY debate in the House of Commons on the Wednesday after the US attack on Libya, Margaret Thatcher and other Tories defended to the hilt the decision to support the US attack and the use of British front bench miserably. Neil Kinnock called for economic sanctions against Libya in place of military attacks.
In the same debate, the speech by Tony Benn was nOteWOrLEY TOrIES Cedi condemnation of the US aLLaCK the British we must s complicity.
HUS! consider very carefully,' said Benn, 'whether should not close down all American bases in believe most profoundly that the time has come when should realign its foreign policy?
He went on to debunk the claim that the attack on Libya was a reprisal for Qaddafi's 'terrorism'. He said:
"The official explanation by the prime minister, in very strident statements yesterday and today, is that there were 330,000 American troops western Europe preserving human freedom and that it was inconce ane ba they were needed to kill some Libyans as a reprisal she should refuse to consent. l was strongly reminded of the Suez situation 30 years about Qaddafi now was used about Nasser then.
we must be careful not to mislead ourselves that is reported outside.
Imperia interests do not mix with human rights.
when •W C were an empire we invaded Afghanistan four times;
we governed the whole of India without any form of consent from the Indian people. The most powerrul country in the world to day is the United States. I the American people and bases from which it was launched.
acquitted themselves their traditions - especially because of the defeat in Congress of Reagan's request for $100 million to pay for the terrorists. have great respect for the American people.
however. the same is not true of the American record - the war in Vietnam, the attack of the Bay of Pigs, the underminins of Allende, the support of Marcos and Papa Doc for many years, the support of the Greek colonels and the Turkish regime, the invasion of Grenada and, currently the positive financing of the killing of the people in Nicaragua.
I hope that the prime minister and the foreign accept that the United States is in Europe anywhere else to protest human rights. It is there to protect its UVESUCHL economic HILCICSLS all! trade routes exactly as Britain did when it was an empire. One reason why the Americans wholeheartedly is that they envy the Americans for be ing able to engage in the sort of gunboat diplomacy that is now beyond our resources "Terrorism is a word used to define acts violence by people we do not like. Let us be clear about that. I have never "The reality is that rights have often been won by force, and none have been readier to use force British governments. When force is used against what we want to hear, we dismiss it the task force; we won because the Americans had a satellite system that informed the British forces of the Argentine positions They supplied the logistics and weapons, but above all they told us the position of the Belgrano so that the Conqueror could sink it. The prime minister had an overwhelming obligation - she thought - to pay the price for that American support by agreeing to the use of British bases for the bombing of Libya."
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