EDINBURGH, May 7 (RIA Novosti), Mark Hirst – Newly uncovered papers detailing the first deliberate use of gas against civilians in Syria and Iraq in the 1920s “adds a dark smear” to iconic British leader Winston Churchill’s career, UK Member of Parliament George Galloway has told RIA Novosti.
Amongst the documents that had been sealed by the British Government for fifty years are telegrams and ciphers that detail how the British Government, and Churchill specifically, dealt with the Arab rising against British rule in Mesopotamia - now modern day Syria and Iraq - that began in 1920.
At the time Churchill was Secretary of State for War in the British Government.
The papers, obtained from the UK National Archive in England, detail how Churchill authorised the use of tens of thousands of mustard gas shells that had been left over from the First World War and ordered them to be directed against “uncivilised tribes” in the region.
"If gas shells for Artillery are available on the spot or in transit it should certainly be employed in the emergency prevailing,” wrote Churchill in a telegram to British Commander-in-Chief, Sir Percy Cox.
“It is not considered that any question of principle is raised by such an emergency use of the limited ammunition of various kinds. The [Commander in Chief] should defend his positions with whatever ammunition is to hand,” Churchill added.
The papers reveal that at the time Churchill gave this order the British Army in Mesopotamia had 19,500 Howitzer gas shells ready to be used and that commanders later requested an additional 15,000 gas shells be transported to them from Egypt.
A year before Churchill, in another controversial war office minute, written a year before the uprising Churchill said, “I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes.”
Responding to the newly revealed papers George Galloway, a Member of Parliament for the Respect Party told RIA Novosti, “It certainly indicates that Britain’s foreign policy hasn’t changed too much in almost a century and that we are still treating the Arabs and the Kurds in much the same way as we did then.
“I knew about Churchill’s involvement in the gassing but this new information is, if not a revelation, certainly adds a dark smear to Churchill’s career,” Galloway added.
“What it certainly shows is that this is a war crime, and would have been treated as a war crime today but the victors are never prosecuted,” Galloway said.
Galloway added that Churchill’s actions were on a parallel with the atrocities committed by the former leaders of the UK and US.
“There are comparisons with the war crimes of Tony Blair and George W. Bush,” Galloway added. “They are the most closely comparable examples that should both be arraigned as war criminals but never will be because they were on the winning side.”
“History, exemplified by these newly revealed papers, just goes to show that if you regard yourself as on the ‘civilised’ side with the technology at your disposal then you can murder and gas with impunity,” Galloway said.
Even in 1920 the deliberate targeting of 'non-combatants' was regarded as a war crime under the terms of the 1899 Hague Conventions to which Britain was a signatory.
The British estimated 10,000 Arabs died during the uprising, although the true figure remains unknown.
