A Daily Mail columnist responds to Dominic Raab’s ‘outrage’ over Saudi oil attack. It’s gold dust.

Peter Oborne and Dominic Raab


Support us and go ad-free

In step with its ‘special’ ally – the US – the UK government has condemned the recent attacks on Saudi oil facilities. Unlike the US, however, the UK appears to be resisting rushing to judgement over who’s to blame, thankfully.

Nonetheless, foreign secretary Dominic Raab’s condemnation was spirited. And a Daily Mail columnist’s response to this zealous outrage is utter gold dust.

Oil attack

On 14 September, explosions occurred at state-owned oil facilities in Saudi Arabia. The blasts, caused by drone attacks, led to fires that caused serious damage at an oil field and processing facility. The Houthis reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack. Yemen’s Houthis are an Iranian-backed militia which overthrew their country’s president in 2014. The Saudi-led coalition has targeted the Houthis in military strikes in Yemen since 2015.

Raab called the attack a “wanton violation of international law”. He also said:

It’s a very serious, an outrageous act, and we need to have a clear and as united as possible international response to it.

Raab littered a tweet he posted on the issue with similar highly charged adjectives:

Related articles

Read on...

Selective outrage

As journalist Peter Oborne pointed out, though, there’s a more ‘egregious’, ‘outrageous’ and ‘serious’ situation in the region which doesn’t attract the same level of indignation from the UK:

Oborne has long been a critic of the UK government’s response to the Yemen crisis. That’s because the UK government effectively ‘sponsors‘ the Saudi war on the country. Between 2010-2018, the UK was the second-largest exporter of arms to Saudi Arabia.

In the last four years alone, the UK has exported £6.2bn worth of weapons to the country. Meanwhile, Britain’s also got staff working in Saudi Arabia’s headquarters, where its targeting rooms are located. And it is ‘liaising‘ with the country and providing “information, advice and assistance” due to its ‘strong’ military and diplomatic relationship.

In April, the UK government faced a judicial review over its continuing arms exports to Saudi Arabia. It investigated whether the UK was supporting ‘serious violations of international humanitarian law’ because Saudi Arabia used those arms in Yemen. As a result, UK arms sales to the Saudi regime are on hold after the Court of Appeal ruled they were “irrational and therefore unlawful”.

The UK is maintaining this relationship with Saudi Arabia as UN-appointed rights experts say Yemenis have faced “numerous” possible war crimes over the last few years. One of those experts, Kamel Jenoubi, recently explained:

The missiles, the airstrikes, the snipers, (that) hit people going about their daily business, often without warning and in places where there’s no active conflict

It gives the impression that there’s nowhere in Yemen that you can call safe, or where you can hide.

On to you

Oborne wasn’t the only person to notice Raab’s double standards either:

Raab’s words of condemnation may have comforted the Saudi regime, but they appalled many people. Because they betrayed a selective outrage that speaks volumes about the priorities of the British government.

Featured image via Alex Salmond/YouTube and Sky News/YouTube

We know everyone is suffering under the Tories - but the Canary is a vital weapon in our fight back, and we need your support

The Canary Workers’ Co-op knows life is hard. The Tories are waging a class war against us we’re all having to fight. But like trade unions and community organising, truly independent working-class media is a vital weapon in our armoury.

The Canary doesn’t have the budget of the corporate media. In fact, our income is over 1,000 times less than the Guardian’s. What we do have is a radical agenda that disrupts power and amplifies marginalised communities. But we can only do this with our readers’ support.

So please, help us continue to spread messages of resistance and hope. Even the smallest donation would mean the world to us.

Support us
  • Show Comments

    1. There is no moral consistency where interest is concerned. That’s why this kind of hypocrisy arises so frequently. Interestingly, Corbyn has promised to cease arms sales to Saudi Arbia, at least in the current circumstances in light of the Supreme Court decision. Peter Oborne and Corbyn, strange bed-fellows. Why has no one in the media praised Corbyn for his stance? Oborne deserves to be praised; but the logic of his position is to adopt Corbyn’s policy.

      Report comment

    2. If this were a “Who done it?” story my list of suspects in order of likelihood would be as follows.

      1. US covert forces.

      2. US covert forces with a NATO ally.

      3. A US minion nation, e.g. the UK, sending in covert forces on its own with intention of distracting attention from the USA should their role be found out.

      4. A single handed mission by discarded UK Defence Secretary ‘Gav the chav’ Williamson in an attempt to show he sprouts hair in all the right places.

      5. Houthis miffed by the lack of attention their battle for survival arouses.

      6. Wet behind the ears Iranian new recruits sent on a very simple mission as test of resolve.

      Regardless, it is a matter of credit rather than blame. Not much credit though because Saudis are happier herding camels than being warriors.

      It’s good to see the latest prat in office as Foreign Secretary holding up the tradition, polished to a tee by the odious Johnson during the Skripal farce, of laying blame long before evidence is forthcoming.

      Report comment

    3. Former Reagan economist Paul Craig Roberts suggested quite openly it was an Israeli false flag. And the north west is the direction of Israel though the MSM would never say that. It is not from the direction of Iran to the north east, and even Iraq to the north would have to swerve it in. Israel’s in a straight line, however.

      Report comment

    4. I would love to see the likes of Raab and Johnson (and so many more closet murderers/genocidalists) deposited in a Yemenese village with no weapons, no support, but only a documentary film crew who they could not get help from.

      THAT would be a documentary worth watching … Today on BBC Blue Planet, David Attenborough and film crew, document the fates of the species known as Corrupticus Bastardopoliticus when taken out of their unnaturally protected domains, and left to fend for themselves in the wilds of Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, North Korea, Sudan and other territories.

      The species Corrupticus Bastardopoliticus is an invertebrate species often masquerading as a vertebrate in the jungle-halls of Westminster and Washington. They can be identified by;

      a) lack of spine (quite obvious when you know what to look for)
      b) loud-mouthedness, usually several decibels above everything else in existence
      c) IQ’s so low they may at times be confused with silent geniuses, or lovable buffoons, but are neither, and extremely dangerous.
      d) in particular this species has an unquenchable thirst for the suffering of others, but are themselves yellow-bellied beasts with no tolerance for personal pain.

      All joking aside though, I think it would be perfect justice for people like Johnson, May, Blair, Bush, Obama, Trump, Bolton, Cameron, Raab, Pompeo, oh FFS! I’ll be here all day if I list them all!!

      What all these invertebrates need, is to be dumped into the middle of the people they have claimed they are ‘helping’, and for the rest of us to be able to watch the proceedings, legs up, bag of popcorn in hand. I would love to see these evil fucks try to explain to them, how the bombs they ordered dropped are ‘humanitarian aid’ or other such euphemistic terms. I wonder if they’d even get past introducing themselves before they suffered an unscheduled and rapid disassembly.

      Report comment

    Leave a Reply

    Join the conversation

    Please read our comment moderation policy here.

Related articles