In an earlier
post, I raised alarms about the British conservatives'
abandonment of Thatcherism on the domestic front. This afternoon, I
attended a talk on the party's approach to national security
matters featuring Dr. Liam Fox, a Tory member of parliament who is
the shadow Defence Secretary, set to take over should the Tories
return to power, which seems increasingly likely.
On the one hand, Fox said he expected a continued British
presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, and said any withdrawal from Iraq
should be conditions based. But, he also distanced himself from
some of the idealism of the Bush and Blair administrations,
especially when it came to democratization. He said that it may not
have been the strategy that failed in Iraq, but the fact that
expectations were set too high, and there wasn't a realistic
timescale for how long it would take to create a stable democracy.
Democracy could not be achieved overnight, Fox said, and it's a lot
more complicated than just holding elections.
Fox was intentionally vague when it came to Iran, saying only
that all options should be on the table. He said that there can be
no accepting an Iranian nuclear weapon for three primary reasons:
the dangers posed by a regime that has threatened to wipe a
neighboring country off the map, the regime's sponsorship and
export of terrorism, and the fact that if it went nuclear, it would
set off a nuclear arms race among all nations in one of the most
unstable regions in the world.
A Tory government, Fox vowed, would be tougher on the European
Union, which signed an agreement in Lisbon that would create a
standing army that would duplicate, and perhaps compete for troops
with NATO, and compromise British sovereignty.
He also noted other threats, specifically signaling out the
dangers posed by a "re-emerging" Russia.
Former Army spokesman Crispian Cuss talked about the financial
challenges Britain faced in funding its military, given their
robust social spending, and Douglas Murray, director of the Centre
for Social Cohesion (which conducted the survey I mentioned
yesterday on Islam on British campuses), warned about the
dangers of Muslim radicalization in Britain. Murray said that the
Tories decision to name Sayeeda Warsi to their shadow cabinet is a
troubling indication that the party doesn't understand the threat.
Warsi, who is Muslim, has attacked Murray for using the term
"Islamist terrorism" objecting not only to the "Islamist" part, but
to the use of the word "terrorism" as well. Murray said she has
also refused to condemn the killing of British troops in Iraq by
Iranian-backed terrorists. Nile Gardiner has
written about Warsi in the past, noting that, among other
things, she welcomed the election of Hamas in 2006.
topics:
Islam, Military, Iraq, Iran, Russia, NATO
