diplomacy

The files clearly show that British planners in Santiago and London totally welcomed the coup [in Chile] and immediately set about conducting good relations with the military rulers as repression increased, even secretly conniving with the junta to mislead the British public.

British officials were completely aware of the scale of atrocities. Three days after the coup, Ambassador Seconde reported to the Foreign Office that ‘it is likely that casualties run into the thousands, certainly it has been far from a bloodless coup’. Six days after, he noted that ‘stories of military excesses and mounting casualties have begun increasingly to circulate. The extent of the bloodshed has shocked people’.

When Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, leading to the deaths of around 200,000 people in one of the bloodiest operations in post-war history, Britain in effect supported Jakarta at the UN. Declassified files show that the British planned before the invasion not to condemn the Indonesians and that 'If there is a row in the United Nations... we should keep our heads down and avoid taking sides'. Between 1975 and 1982 there were 2 Security Council Resolutions and 8 General Assembly resolutions condemning the invasion... London abstained on, or voted against, all the General Assembly resolutions, while it provided arms to Indonesia and deepened air, trade and diplomatic relations.

Consider, for example, the long list of governments that Britain has itself directly overthrown or tried to overthrow: Iran (1953), British Guiana (1953 and 1963), Egypt (1956), Indonesia (1957-1958, 1965), Yemen (1962-1970), Oman (1970), Libya (1996), Yugoslavia (1999), Afghanistan (2001). There are also numerous cases where Britain has welcomed the overthrow of governments by the US, such as: Guatemala (1954), Iraq (1963), Vietnam (1963), Dominican Republic (1965), Chile (1973), Nicaragua (1980s) and Panama (1989)

In May and July 2001, the authoritative Jane's Foreign Report disclosed that Britain and France had given Israel 'the green light' to attack the West Bank. The Blair government was shown a top-secret plan for an all-out invasion and reoccupation of both the West Bank and Gaza, which were then administered by Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority under Israel sufferance. The plan was to use 'the latest F-16 and F-15 jets against all the main installations of the Palestinian Authority [and] 30,000 men or the equivalent of a full army'. However, this plan needed 'the trigger' of a suicide bombing which would cause 'numerous deaths and injuries [because] the "revenge" factor is crucial'. This 'would motivate Israeli soldiers to demolish the Palestinians'.