Centrist saviour or hypocrite? David Miliband reminded of his Saudi dealings as he decries Yemen War
Did David Miliband forget Britain's selling of Typhoon fighter jets to Saudi Arabia while he was Foreign Secretary? The ex-MP was labelled a hypocrite after he decries the kingdom over their war in Yemen.
Tweets derided the former MP and his apparent aboutface. One read: “Typhoon jets anyone,” while another asked: “Didn’t you approve the sale of fighter jets now bombing them [Yemenis] when [you were] foreign secretary?”
YES. The assassination of #Khasoggi is an appalling crime. We often don’t know the victims’ names but we owe them an end to support for a war going nowhere. @theirc is on the ground but we need new politics to kick in now.https://t.co/Qzq82CEk7H
— David Miliband (@DMiliband) October 21, 2018
One tweet from the anti-War on Terror group Cage UK read: “David Miliband when Foreign Sec used to sell the same bombs that kill the people he now wants to help…”
— CAGE (@UK_CAGE) October 21, 2018
Make money from selling weapons then make money heading a disaster charity. I feel sick. I stopped donating to @theIRC the day @DMiliband got the job
— Tim Piotr (@tim_piotr) October 21, 2018
Typhoon jets anyone? You make me sick.
— Two Flames 🇵🇸 (@msjenniferjames) October 21, 2018
Miliband was made the UK’s Foreign Secretary in June 2007, the day after Gordon Brown became PM. On September 17, that year, Saudi Arabia confirmed that they had ordered 72 Eurofighter Typhoon warplanes from the UK at a cost of £4.43 billion, then $8.86 billion.
READ MORE: Beyond Orwellian: Myth of UK's 'non-intervention' in Syria
Most famous in the UK for losing the Labour leadership race to his brother Ed, Miliband left frontline politics in 2010, he is now the President of the partly-US funded International Rescue Committee, who have boasted Henry Kissinger and Madeline Albright on their ‘Board of Directors and Overseers.’
Guilty concience David?
— Scouse Scum (@scouse_scum) October 21, 2018
As well as his questionable dealings with the Saudis, Miliband has a host of other allegations stemming from his time heading up the Foreign Office. Historian Mark Curtis, writing in the Middle East Eye, detailed how Julian Assange’s Wikileaks exposed Miliband's foreign office for “helping the US to sidestep a ban on cluster bombs and keep the weapons at US bases on UK soil,” among other allegations.
My latest piece in @MiddleEastEye provides a snapshot of some of Wikileaks' revelations about British foreign policy in the Middle East – including on Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Libya, Diego Garcia, spying and Trident. https://t.co/CzqojkwXrN
— Mark Curtis (@markcurtis30) October 21, 2018
Miliband is one of a plethora of establishment figures who have denounced Saudi Arabia over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, despite past or current dealings with the country, including liberal publications in both the UK and US.
In his tweet, Miliband linked to a slick New York Times piece, published on Saturday headlined: “This is the front line of Saudi Arabia’s invisible war.”
The UN warned of widespread famine that could affect 13 million people three years ago, and their warnings haven’t ceased.
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