UK Defence Sec Accuses Corbyn of ‘Anti-Americanism’ in Soleimani Debate

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 28: Labour party Leader Jeremy Corbyn addresses delegates a
Leon Neal/Getty Images
Victoria Friedman

Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace has accused Jeremy Corbyn of “anti-Americanism” during a parliamentary debate on President Donald Trump’s decision to eliminate Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander General Qasem Soleimani.

During a House of Commons debate on Tuesday, the leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, called the “assassination” of General Soleimani “an extremely aggressive act that threatened starting yet another deadly war in the Middle East”.

The leader of the opposition then accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of being too “scared to stand up to President Trump, because he’s hitched his wagon to the prospect of a toxic Trump trade deal” post-Brexit.

“At this highly dangerous moment, we find the government giving cover and even expressing sympathy for what is widely regarded as an illegal act because they’re so determined to keep in with President Trump,” the socialist said.

“The principle and the law is that we don’t go around assassinating foreign leaders without the clear demonstration of an immediate threat. It is illegal,” he added.

The far-leftist was quick to condemn the U.S. president last week, saying the UK should “stand up to the belligerent actions and rhetoric coming from the U.S.”.

Mr Corbyn had called the death of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden a “tragedy” in 2011. Footage recently resurfaced from five years ago of Mr Corbyn giving a speech praising the Iranian regime at a pro-Soleimani Islamic centre in London, which recently hosted a memorial to the Islamist general.

In response to Mr Corbyn’s remarks from the dispatch box on Tuesday, Mr Wallace, as defence secretary taking questions in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s stead, said: “Instead of a serious interrogation of how we are going to deescalate this situation in the Middle East… we’ve had the usual tripe, ‘this is about Trump, this is about America’ and all the anti-American, anti-imperialist guff that we’ve had from him [Jeremy Corbyn].”

The Secretary of State for Defence had told the House: “General Soleimani was no friend of the UK or our allies in the region. He was not an advocate of a more peaceful or prosperous Middle East. Clandestine operations saw him supply weaponry for proxy forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. He encouraged proxies to develop weapons such as improvised explosive devises that killed and maimed UK soldiers and other Western forces. Nor should we forget how he fomented instability in places like Basra [Iraq] where British forces were stationed.”

While the British government’s position is to “urge all parties to de-escalate as soon as possible”, Mr Wallace said: “The UK will always defend the right of countries to defend themselves.”

The Conservative minister added: “No one should be under an allusion that long before the death of General Soleimani, Iran had stepped up its destabilising activities in the region, whether it was targetting dissidents in Europe or hijacking civilian ships. This aggressive behaviour was never going to go unchallenged.”

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