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WSWS : News & Analysis : Europe : The Balkan Crisis
Chinese embassy bombing escalates political tensions in Britain
Conservatives tell Blair to mount ground war or prepare for defeat
By Chris Marsden
13 May 1999
The aftershock from NATO's bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade
has split cross-party unity in Britain for the air war against
Serbia. The Conservative Party, sensing a disaster in the making,
have launched a campaign to make sure that everyone knows that this
is "Blair's war" and that any blame for failure must be laid to rest
at his door. They have coupled this with demands for ground war as
the only realistic option for success.
Shadow Foreign Secretary Michael Howard first launched an attack on
the government in Parliament, calling the bombing of the Chinese
embassy an example of "gross incompetence". The following day he
upped the ante by writing an article in the Daily Telegraph, in which
he noted that the air war had worsened a "humanitarian disaster" and
that there were "diplomatic failures leading up to the crisis."
"Two things have been lacking," he added, "clarity in NATO's
objectives, and a consistency in the means employed to carry them
out. The impression is given that the action is being made up as we
go along, and has not been properly thought through." Pointing to
Blair's contradictory statements regarding the use of ground troops,
he asked, "We want to know whether such a decision has been
taken—and, if not, if and when it will be."
Howard concluded by calling for the convening of an inquiry into the
conduct of the war after it ended. His line was echoed by Sir Malcolm
Rifkind, former Secretary of State for Defence, who said, "I am still
puzzled why Mr. Blair did not take the advice of our military. I was
at the Ministry of Defence during the Bosnia conflict where the
limits of air power were impressed on me. I cannot imagine that the
assessment would be any different now."
Heavyweights within the civil service and the military were quoted in
sympathy with these views. Sir John Weston, former British Ambassador
to both NATO and the UN, said, "The continued credibility of both is
an overriding long-term Western interest, and requires a surer touch
by political leaders. Meanwhile, persevere; and be ready to put
forces on the ground in Kosovo."
Former Chief of Defence Staff Lord Craig asked, "Are we now after
military victory? Will we use ground forces? What are our military
objectives? Where is the consistency in all of this?"
The reaction in the Conservative Press has been even more forthright.
In an article in the Telegraph entitled "It's time for Plan B—always
assuming NATO has got one", columnist Boris Johnson wrote, "With the
distinguished exception of Sion Simon, I can't think of a single
general, armchair supremo, or indeed anyone, who thinks this war is
anything but a complete and utter shambles.... The point is that
Milosevic has at no point been confronted by the kind of offensive
that might have made sense of the war."
The Times said of the embassy bombing, "A single crass mistake has
compounded the already growing public unease that the conduct of this
war is fundamentally unserious.... Both politically and militarily,
time is running out if disaster is to be avoided. The war of public
opinion is being lost."
Calling for a ground war, its editorial continued, "War on the cheap
is an oxymoron. The Kosovans have already suffered disastrously from
this half-war. For NATO, for European peace and for Britain, the
true, high reckoning beckons: it is called failure."
Blair has become increasingly desperate regarding the mounting
opposition to the war against Serbia and the crisis faced by his
government. This week he even made a scathing attack on the media for
its supposed underplaying of the plight of Kosovar Albanians—the
central justification for the NATO offensive. He berated the
assembled journalists with the remark, "Once you've reported one mass
rape, the next one's not so newsworthy. Seen one mass grave, you've
seen the lot."
The government response to Howard's statements was to accuse the
Tories of “undermining the morale” of the British forces. Blair's
main spokesman, Alistair Campbell, said, “Michael Howard won't cut
much ice with the government or the British people, who acknowledge
that in conflict situation things can get tough from time to time and
people have to show some determination and resolve, not flake off at
the first sign of trouble.”
The situation is an explosive one. Faced with the failure of their
air-war strategy, growing antagonisms with Russia and China, and a
vociferous campaign by the Conservative right, the Labour government
is being pushed into a no-win situation. Blair has linked his future
firmly to that of Clinton in the US. Only the US can decide whether a
ground war will be called. If it is not, then Blair will be savaged
by the Tories and the media for his Balkan escapade. If it is, then
he will meet far more dangerous opposition from the mass of working
people in Britain who—as the right wing point out—are increasingly
troubled over the implications of NATO's aggression in Yugoslavia.
Blair's subservience to America has been one of the central concerns
of the Tory right since the start of hostilities against Serbia. His
foreign policy strategy—such as it exists—is to utilise Britain's
economic, political and military relationship with the US in order to
counter German and French domination of the European Union. For this
reason, he reacted angrily to the call by EU Commission President
Romano Prodi to create a European Army. Blair insisted that the US-
dominated NATO remain the chief military organisation uniting the
European powers. Failure in the Balkans would, therefore, have far
wider implications. The Times earlier warned of the possible
repercussions for Britain's standing within Europe. "No nation," they
wrote, "would be more adversely affected by such developments than
Britain. The cultural, economic and political link with the United
States is more important to these islands than to any other European
ally. NATO has rightly been the central element of post war British
foreign policy. Mr. Clinton, who has survived so much, might be able
to endure the criticism that a false peace would inevitably engender.
Tony Blair and his successors would not be so fortunate."
See Also:
Rising cost of Britain's war drive to fall on working people
[13 May 1999]
The NATO Attack on Yugoslavia
[WSWS Full Coverage]
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