Sunday, June 16, 2013

Annals Of Empire

75 yrs. pass, & little changes but the names of the perpetrators; the names on the receiving end are almost unchanged.
1938 Britain Offers to Suspend Bombings

LONDON — In response to the pressure of public opinion in the United States and other countries, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced today [June 16] that Britain would abandon its “humane” aerial bombing in India*, Palestine, Southern Arabia and Irak if such practices stood in the way of a general agreement to abolish bombing from the air as exemplified at its worst in Spain and China. Arthur Henderson, Labor M.P., asked the Prime Minister in the House of Commons whether he was aware of the offer by Secretary of State Cordell Hull to have the United States join other nations in seeking to humanize the rules and practices of warfare. The Prime Minister replied that he was aware of the remarks of Mr. Hull and that Britain is “always ready to co-operate in seeking an agreement to humanize the rules and practices of warfare.”

*Not that we think you don't know, dear reader, but for the benefit of gov't. & corporate agents or robots that may be reading, we remind that in 1938 current target "Pakistan" was a part of "India."

1 comment:

mikey said...

In the fullness of time, you see, the US has 'evolved' in its opinions about the tension between humanitarian values and the effectiveness of the most brutal weapons.

The US will not sign onto a landmine ban. The US will not foreswear targeted assassination. The US will not participate in an international treaty on small arms. The US would prefer to retain the option to use cluster munitions. The US regularly issues White Phosphorus ammunition to artillery units, calling them 'marking rounds'. And never forget that only two nuclear weapons have ever been used in wartime, and they were both used by the US...