The London Olympics: An Olympics Hosted by Hypocrites
From – Press TV -
During his visit to Afghanistan less than two weeks before the London 2012 Olympic Games, British Prime Minister David Cameron told UK occupying forces in the country that a British-run officer academy in Afghanistan would be established to train Afghan security forces.
Olympic Games are held in London and in Afghanistan 9,500 British troops roam across the country making Britain the second-largest contributor to US-led foreign forces in the war-torn country.
This comes as in ancient times, the Olympic Truce stated that during the Truce period, which lasted up to three months, wars should be suspended, armies should be prohibited from threatening the Games, legal disputes should be stopped, and even death penalties should be forbidden.
Was it not the British government that placed pressure on the British Olympic Association in 1980 not to attend the Olympic Games in Moscow hoping to take sporting sanctions against the Soviet Union because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979?
Irrespective of the fact that the UK government failed to prevent the country’s athletes from attending the games in 1980, Britain’s double standards and contradictory policies come to a surface when you see Britain boasting of being the first ever country to get all 193 United Nations member states to sign the Olympic Truce with nearly 10,000 British occupying troops in Afghanistan.
But, what about the invasion of Iraq and Libya? And tortures and abuse at the hands of British occupying forces? In 2003, the UK and the US led an invasion on Iraq and almost one month before the Olympic Games begin in London, explosive revelations showed British occupying forces had tortured Iraqi civilians who were hooded, strip-naked, and assaulted in secret black jails.
It emerged that the blatant violations of the Geneva conventions on rights of victims of war occurred under direct authority of Britain’s Ministry of Defence.
Nearly one year before the Olympic Games in London, Britain played a leading role in invading oil-rich Libya and securing British oil companies lucrative contracts while the country’s construction companies took up the responsibility to rebuild the country which was torn apart by the very same governments now struggling to fill their pockets.
“Libya is a relatively wealthy country with oil reserves, and I expect there will be opportunities for British and, indeed, other companies to get involved in the reconstruction of Libya”, said British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond.
John Pilger, a London-based investigative journalist and documentary film maker, said the invasion of Libya secured Britain and other western countries another client as “Libya is the source of more oil than any other country in Africa, including Nigeria”.
“We bomb, we destroy, and then we get the contracts to rebuild afterwards”, said John Hilary, executive director at the London-based War on Want anti-poverty charity.
And now the UK capital is hosting what is supposed to be an international peaceful event. But, London itself is militarized like a city preparing for war. Latest figures show 18,200 military soldiers are tasked with providing Olympic security, being deployed in London during the peaceful sporting events. It seems as if London has to be either preparing for war or waging war.
ISH/HE
