War on terror extends its sinister reach

Nine years ago the destruction of the World Trade Centre led George Bush with the fanatical support of Tony Blair into the bombing of Afghanistan and pursuit of Osama bin Laden, wanted "dead or alive."

Today, thousands of Afghans have been slaughtered and 250 British soldiers have returned in coffins. Bin Laden remains at large despite the presence of over 100,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan. There is still no sign of the war ending, merely of its continuation and expansion into Pakistan and other neighbouring countries.

President Barack Obama was elected on a policy of withdrawing from Iraq, but he memorably said in his 2008 Mile High Stadium speech that "we will fight the real war in Afghanistan."

Since then, he has increased the number of troops in Afghanistan and increased the US military budget.

But it's not just Afghanistan that is in US sights. An increasingly aggressive policy towards the Gulf states and the Horn of Africa, suggests that the next major military activity will be in that region.

Yemen is a case in point. Its chronic poverty and instability ever since reunification have led to an uprising in the north, the intervention of Saudi forces and now military aid being offered to its government by the US and its Western allies.

Last week Gordon Brown convened an international conference on Yemen at which it was decided that the solution to that country's endemic poverty was a stiff dose of International Monetary Fund medicine.

This prescription normally leads to privatisation, inequality and the export of mineral wealth to the global corporations.

Across the Gulf of Aden in Somalia, increasing instability has bizarrely led to military and economic sanctions against Eritrea, which can only serve to impoverish an already poor people.

On Monday Foreign Secretary David Miliband made a statement to the house, mainly on Afghanistan. He pledged more money to that country despite incredible levels of corruption there. He then moved on to Yemen, claiming that the government sought to forge an international consensus, economic reform and international co-operation to support the people of Yemen.

It looks increasingly as though we're seeing a build-up towards direct military activity in Yemen.

At the Chilcot inquiry last week Blair managed to twist the whole discussion to yet another military agenda. He mentioned Iran 52 times in his statement and seemed to be inviting exactly the same kind of approach towards Iran that was taken towards Iraq in 2002.

Iran has enormous issues surrounding human rights abuses, attacks on trade unionists and the denial of religious freedoms. But it also has a long and honourable history of opposing Western interference and its erstwhile royal puppets such as the Shah.

The West's policy of isolating Iran because of its nuclear ambitions is dangerous and short-sighted. Iran remains a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and would therefore be in breach of its treaty obligations if it were to develop nuclear weapons in any form. One hopes that wisdom will prevail and that the full inspection regime will be reinstated.

The military muscle lined up to threaten Iran is truly awesome. Israel has 50 ballistic missiles capable of reaching Iran as well as three nuclear-capable submarines and 15 squadrons of F15 and F16 jets.

Obama's decision to place patriot missiles in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait in addition to deploying two cruisers to the Persian Gulf is, we're expected to believe, designed to discourage Israel from making a unilateral attack on Iran.

The situation could not be more dangerously skewed than at the present time.

The war on terror was always an illogical concept and the Obama administration is continuing most of Bush's policies, which is a tragedy.

Blair's performance last Friday revealed his concept of the West's "right" to intervene wherever it wishes, irrespective of any legal or UN mandate. This just shows how dangerous the Bush-era thinking is.

Jeremy Corbyn is Labour MP for Islington North.