Friday, September 26, 2003


Stink Of Hypocrisy
Saddam is seemingly not the only advocate of weapons of mass destruction. Winston Churchill was on the verge of 'drenching' Germany with poison gas before the war turned in Britain's favour, reveals George Rosie

EVER since Hans Blix and his team of UN inspectors began rummaging for Saddam Hussein's 'weapons of mass destruction' our own political leaders have been sounding pious notes from the moral high ground. We're constantly told that Saddam's 'rogue state' is a menace to mankind. Which may be true, but Tony Blair and Jack Straw might be advised to be a little less indignant. Most countries have traces of chemicals on their hands. Britain certainly has. Buried in the Public Record Office in London are a series of documents that reveal how we, the British, continued to develop and stockpile chemical weapons in secret long after signing a treaty in 1925 forbidding their use.

Towards the end of the second world war, when the threat of a German invasion was over and the war was being won, Winston Churchill was planning a chemical holocaust. He wanted to 'drench' the cities of Germany with poison gas so that 'most of the population would be requiring constant medical attention'. Only the stubborn resistance of Britain's military commanders saved the people of Germany from mass contamination. If Churchill had won the argument, he may have gone down in history, not as a hero, but as one of its worst war criminals, on a moral par, seemingly, with Saddam Hussein. ...