Sir, What business does the UK have to meddle in Libya’s civil imbroglio (“Red faces as SAS mission to Libya ends in swift exit”, Mar 7)? The humiliating apprehension in Benghazi of a SAS spy team armed with explosives and fake passports illustrates Britain’s nefarious designs in a major oil-exporting country. It is the height of irresponsibility and inconsistency for the Government to side with Libyan insurgents. Recently, it remained aloof when Bahraini protesters were killed and will certainly not offer credible support for any popular uprising in the despotic pro-Western Saudi kingdom. Such opportunist duplicity and hypocrisy highlights Britain’s notorious Perfidious Albion standing in the Muslim world. British shenanigans will contaminate the people’s movement in Libya and will fatally compromise anti-regime forces by colluding with the region’s foremost ex-imperial power.
Given the sordid history and bitter legacy of British colonialism in the Middle East, the UK should be extremely wary in again stirring the Arab pot, as the collective memory of past wrongdoings has not faded. Starting with Victorian England’s imperial conquest of Egypt in 1882 and the British Army’s brutal massacres in Sudan in 1899, Britain’s ruthless image was further sullied by the expedient espousal of the pro-Zionist Balfour declaration in 1917 and its self-serving political division of former Ottoman territories. The secret tripartite Anglo-French-Israeli Suez invasion in 1956 only magnified Britain’s naked partiality. In the late 20th century Britain blindly endorsed US geopolitical hegemony in the Middle East.
Through its deceitful 130-year record in the region, Britain has consistently secured its own interests rather than Arab freedom. It is best for Britain to stay out of the Libyan conflagration than to become embroiled in yet another no-win scenario.
Dr T. Hargey
Chairman, Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford