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Feb 6 2010
Churchill's Crimes & Chilcot Inquiry on Iraq War
Written by Gideon Polya
Sunday, 07 February 2010 04:02
Anglo Holocaust Commission
In WW2 Churchill deliberately starved 6-7 million Indians to death,
continued to foster Muslim-Hindu antipathy that led to the horrors of
Indian Partition and persuaded his War Cabinet on racist Partition of
Palestine. Yet Sir Martin Gilbert, an eminent UK historian and member
of the current UK Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War, made no mention
of Churchill's WW2 Bengali Holocaust in 2 definitive books about
Churchill.
Sir Martin Gilbert is an eminent UK historian and indeed I often have
occasion to refer to his works on Jewish history, Zionism, Churchill,
WW1, WW2 and 20th century history. He is to be praised as one of very
few UK historians who actually mention the 1943-1945 Bengal Famine, a
Bengali Holocaust that was to my knowledge the first such WW2 atrocity
to be referred to a `holocaust' (by N.G. Jog in 1944; see Jog, N.G.
(1944), `Churchill's Blind-Spot: India', New Book Company, Bombay).
Thus Sir Martin Gilbert refers (albeit very briefly) to `1.5 million'
Bengal Famine victims in at least 3 books, namely M. Gilbert,
`British History Atlas'(Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London , 1968), M.
Gilbert, `The Day the War Ended. VE-Day 1945 in Europe and Around the
World' and M. Gilbert, `A History of the Twentieth Century. Volume Two
1933-1951' (William Morrow, New York , 1998).
It is all the more remarkable then that Sir Martin Gilbert, the
world's top expert on Churchill, should have not included in 2 of his
key books on Churchill any mention of Churchill's WW2 Bengali
Holocaust ` a holocaust greater in terms of victims (6-7 million dead)
than the WW2 Jewish Holocaust (5-6 million dead, with 1 in 6 dying
from deprivation; see M. Gilbert, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1969
and M. Gilbert, `Atlas of the Holocaust', Michael Joseph, London,
1982).
Thus, to the best of my ascertainment, there is no mention of
Churchill's WW2 Bengal Famine atrocity in the following books by
Martin Gilbert about Churchill: M. Gilbert, `In Search of Churchill. A
historians Journey', Harper & Collins, London, 1994, and M. Gilbert,
M., `Churchill. A Life', Heinemann, London, 1991.
Just imagine a biography of Adolph Hitler that made no mention of the
WW2 Jewish Holocaust or indeed of his other atrocities, most notably
the 30 million Slavs, Jews and Gypsies killed by the Nazis in WW2.
Of course, Churchill's crimes were not confined to the deliberate,
sustained mass murder of 6-7 million Indians in WW2. For your
convenience, I have simply listed below an expanded list of immense
crimes in which Churchill was complicit as a racist soldier,
politician, mass murderer and holocaust-denying writer ` indeed he
was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953 for his numerous
published works, especially his six-edition set The Second World War
in which he ignored his deliberate, remorseless murder of 6-7 million
Indians in 1943-1945 [ I have provided estimates of violent and
non-violent avoidable deaths in square brackets].
A key reference for the list of Churchill's crimes is my book `Jane
Austen and the Black Hole of British History. Colonial rapacity,
holocaust denial and the crisis in global sustainability', G.M. Polya,
Melbourne, 2008.
1. British Indian Holocaust (1.8 billion excess deaths, 1757-1947; 10
million killed in post-1857 Indian Mutiny reprisals; 1 million
starved, 1895-1897 Indian Famine; 6-9 million starved, 1899-1900
Indian Famine; 6-7 million starved under Churchill, Bengali Holocaust
1943-1945].
2. Sudan atrocities [horrendous British atrocities after the Battle
of Obdurman 1898].
3. Boer (Afrikaaner) Genocide [28,000 Afrikaaner women and children
died in British concentration camps, 1899-1902].
4. World War 1 promotion [World War I Allied military and civilian
dead 5.7 million and 3.7 million, respectively; German-allied (Central
Powers) military and civilian deaths 4.0 million and 5.2 million;
troop movement-exacerbated Spanish Flu Epidemic killed 20-100 million
people world wide. 1918-1922].
5. WW1 Dardanelles Campaign in Turkey [0.2 million Allied and Turkish
soldiers killed, 1915; precipitated 1915-1923 Turkish Armenian
Genocide, 1.5 million Armenians killed].
6. UK and US invasion of Russia 1917-1919 [millions died in the
Russian Civil War and the subsequent Russian Famine; 7 million died in
the circa 1930 Ukrainian Famine; and perhaps up to 20 million died
overall in Stalinist atrocities].
7. British suppression of the Arab revolt in Iraq (invaded by Britain
in 1914) [bombing of Kurds, poison gas use (1920s); violent UK
involvement on and off , 1914-2009; 1990-2008 Iraqi excess deaths 4
million; under-5 infant deaths 1.8 million; refugees currently 6
million].
8. Support for British Occupation and opposition to Indian
self-determination [1757-1947 excess deaths, 1.8 billion; 1895-1897
famine deaths1 million; 1899-1900 Indian Famine, deaths6-9 million
deaths; 1943-1945 Bengali Holocaust deaths 6-7 million].
9. World War 2 promotion [World War 2 military deaths 25 million and
civilian deaths about 67 million].
10. Promotion of Japan entry into World War 2 in order to involve the
US and hence ensure victory [35 million Chinese avoidable deaths,
1937-1945; 6-7 million Indians starved, Bengal 1943-1945; millions
more died in the WW2 Eastern Theatre].
11. Churchill knew Singapore was indefensible [8,000-15,000 killed,
130,000 captured in the 1941 Malaya campaign; 14,000 Australian,
16,000 British and 32,000 Indian troops surrendered in Singapore] (see
Rusbridger, J. and Nave, E. (1991), `Betrayal at Pearl Harbor. How
Churchill Lured Roosevelt into World War II', Summit, New York).
12. Churchill deliberately did not warn Americans about Pearl Harbor
attack [Eastern Theatre WW2 deaths 45 million] (see Rusbridger, J. and
Nave, E. (1991), `Betrayal at Pearl Harbor. How Churchill Lured
Roosevelt into World War II', Summit, New York).
13. WW2 Bengal Holocaust, Bengal Famine [deliberate starving to death
of of 6-7 million Indians; confessed by Churchill in a letter to
Roosevelt]
14. Churchill rejected top scientific advice and supported bombing of
German cities instead of protecting Atlantic convoys [0.16 million
allied airmen killed; 0.6 million German civilians killed; Battle of
the Atlantic almost lost; 7 million dead from famine in the Indian
Ocean region related to halving of Allied shipping in 1943].
15. Churchill acknowledged the crucial importance of maintaining
Hindu-Muslim antipathy to preserve British rule [1 million dead and 18
million Muslim and Hindu refugees associated with India-Pakistan
Partition in 1947].
16. 1944 UK War Cabinet decision Partition of Palestine [in 1878, Jews
were 5% of the Palestine population; in 1948 Jews were 1/3 of the
population; there are now over 7 million Palestinian refugees;
post-1967 Occupied Palestinian excess deaths 0.3 million, post-1967
under-5 infant deaths 0.2 million; excess deaths in countries
partially or completely occupied by Apartheid Israel now total about
24 million; 4 million Occupied Palestinians are still illegally and
abusively imprisoned by racist Zionists in their own country].
17. UK rejection of 1944 Brand plan to save Hungarian Jews [0.2-0.4
million killed by Nazis and Arrow Cross fascists out of 0.7 million;
Zionists also opposed the Brand plan]
18. British, American, Zionist, Australian and European adoption of
Churchill's holocaust commission and holocaust denying legacy, with
post-war atrocities involving invasion, occupation, devastation and
genocide [in relation to Occupiers (in parenthesis) 1950-2005 excess
deaths in post-1945 occupied countries total 2 million (white
Australia), 36 million (Belgium), 142 million (France), 24 million
(Apartheid Israel), 0.7 million (Apartheid South Africa), 23 million
(Portugal), 37 million (Russia), 9 million (Spain), 727 million (the
UK) and 82 million (the US); 25 million Indigenous excess deaths in
post-1950 US Asian Wars; 9-11 million excess deaths associated with
1990-2008 Bush Wars; post-invasion excess deaths in Occupied Iraq 2.5
million, refugees 5-6 million; post-invasion excess deaths in Occupied
Afghanistan 4.5 million, refugees 3-4 million].
To paraphrase mathematician satirist Tom Lehrer's song `The Elements',
`These are the only Churchill crimes currently known to Harvard/But
there may be many others that haven't been discARvered'. However most
of these enormous crimes are well hidden by Anglo historians ,
journalists, politicians, academics and writers.
While pro-Zionist Anglo censorship evidenced above is utterly
obnoxious, the Churchill Centre (US and world-wide) must be
complimented for publishing a critical review of my article, a Review
that adduced the opinions of major historians, including Professor
Sir Martin Gilbert, an eminent historian whose works I and no doubt
numerous others turn to for information about Churchill, World War 2 ,
the Jewish Holocaust and Jewish history (see Churchill Centre, `The
Bengali Famine', 2008 ) . My responses to what I will refer to below
as `the Review' are listed below.
(1). The Review was quite nastily critical of my article and
commencing with the false assertion `Mr. [Dr] Polya begins by
dismissing all historians who disagree with him as Anglo-American and
Zionist propagandists, including official biographer Sir Martin
Gilbert' ` what I actually did say was, quote: `Yet, to list just s
few examples of UK-US holocaust ignoring, there is absolutely NO
mention of the 1943-1945 Bengali Holocaust in the biography of
Winston Churchill by pro-Zionist Professor Sir Martin Gilbert
(Gilbert, M. (1991), Churchill. A Life (Heinemann, London); the recent
histories by leading conservative Australian historian Professor
Geoffrey Blainey (Blainey, G. (2000), A Short History of the World
(Viking, Melbourne), Blainey, G. (2004), A Very Short History of the
World (Viking, Melbourne), Blainey, G. (2005), A Short History of the
20th Century (Penguin, Melbourne); the recent history of Britain by
pro-Zionist Professor Simon Schama (Schama, S. (2002), A History of
Britain (BBC, London)); or even in an important book on Denial
entitled "Denial. History betrayed" by Australian historian Professor
Tony Taylor (Monash University, Melbourne (see my book :Jane Austen
and the Black Hole of British History. Colonial rapacity, holocaust
denial and the crisis in global sustainability', G.M. Polya,
Melbourne, 2008).
(2). The Review says that it sought comment and obtained the following
bald denial comment from Professor Sir Martin Gilbert: `Churchill was
not responsible for the Bengal Famine. I have been searching for
evidence for years: none has turned up. The 1944 Document volume of
the official biography [Hillsdale College Press] will resolve this
issue finally.'
However with due respect for Professor Gilbert's eminence, (a)
Churchill was the ruler and the Ruler is responsible for the Ruled;
(b), 6-7 million Indians perished (latest estimate from medical
historian Dr Sanjoy Bhattacharya , Wellcome Institute, University
College London); (c) 1998 Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya
Sen blames the Ruler for a needless disaster; (d) and most importantly
Churchill himself actually confessed his inaction as follows in a
now-released secret letter to Roosevelt in 1944 in stating `I am no
longer justified in not asking for your help' (p158, `Jane Austen and
the Black Hole of British History. Colonial rapacity, holocaust denial
and the crisis in global sustainability').
For a recent, succinct account of the `forgotten' World War 2 Bengal
Famine see the 2008 BBC broadcast entitled `Bengal Famine. The things
we forgot to remember' and involving me, 1998 Economics Nobel Laureate
Professor Amartya Sen , Dr Sanjoy Bhattacharya , Wellcome Institute,
University College London and other scholars ).
(3) The Review then quite astonishingly supports my thesis and itself
DAMNS Churchill with the following, QUOTE: `Arthur Herman's excellent
and balanced Gandhi & Churchill (New York: Bantam, 2008, reviewed in
Finest Hour 138: 51-52). There is quite a lot on the Bengal Famine (pp
512 et. seq.), which Herman believes `did more than Gandhi to
undermine Indian confidence in the Raj.' Secretary of State for India
Leo Amery, Herman writes, `at first took a lofty Malthusian view of
the crisis, arguing that India was `overpopulated' and that the best
strategy was to do nothing. But by early summer even Amery was
concerned and urged the War Cabinet to take drastic action.... For his
part, Churchill proved callously indifferent. Since Gandhi's fast his
mood about India had progressively darkened.....[He was] resolutely
opposed to any food shipments. Ships were desperately needed for the
landings in Italy....Besides, Churchill felt it would do no good.
Famine or no famine, Indians will `breed like rabbits.' Amery
prevailed on him to send some relief, albeit only a quarter what was
needed.'
Malthusian over-population as an excuse for allowing mass death is
obscene. Yet Churchill put it more bluntly in the only public
statement of Churchill's about the Bengal famine that I have been able
to find is Churchill's notorious anti-Indian comment that `they breed
like rabbits' as quoted by India 's Nobel Prize-winning economist
Professor Amartya Sen in an essay to Asian Institute of Technology
(2002): `Winston Churchill's famous remark about the 1943 Bengal
famine - that it was caused by the tendency of the people to breed
like rabbits - belongs to this general tradition of blaming the
colonial subject'.
One has to turn to the Whitehall, London, UK supervisor of the 1840s
Irish Potato Famine (1 million killed, 1.5 million emigrated) ,
Charles Trevelyan, for a comparably obscene viewpoint about man-made
mass starvation: `This being altogether beyond the power of man, the
cure had been applied by the direct stroke of an all-wise Providence
in a manner as unexpected and unthought of as it is likely to be
effectual.' (1846, C.E. Trevelyan, the responsible Undersecretary for
the Treasury, commenting in 1846 on the Irish famine as a `cure' for
Irish overpopulation) (see p257, Edwards, R.D. and Williams, T.D.
(1957) (editors), The Great Famine. Studies in Irish History 1845-52
(New York University Press, New York).
Indeed G.M. Trevelyan (Regius Professor of Modern History and Master
of Trinity College, Cambridge, and grandson of the English official
Charles Trevelyan who supervised the Irish Famine) fails to mention
the Irish Famine (and the Bengal Famine) in his `authoritative'
`History of England' (Longmans. London), except for a brief aside:
`the potato blight in Ireland in 1845-6 left him [Peel] no other
choice than either to suspend the Corn Laws or to allow the Irish to
die by tens of thousands' i.e. he suggests that the Irish Famine [1
million dead, 1.5 million forced to emigrate] was something averted by
benign English wisdom (see p114, Chapter 13, `Jane Austen and the
Black Hole of British History').
(4). The Review gets an opinion from historian Arthur Herman who,
notwithstanding his `Churchill proved callously indifferent' above,
states, QUOTE: `The idea that Churchill was in any way `responsible'
or `caused' the Bengal famine is of course absurd. The real cause was
the fall of Burma to the Japanese, which cut off India's main supply
of rice imports when domestic sources fell short, which they did in
Eastern Bengal after a devastating cyclone in mid-October 1942'.
However this is simply incorrect.
1998 Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen (Harvard
University, formerly at Cambridge University, who witnessed the Bengal
Famine as a child and was awarded the Nobel Prize for studies on
famines, including the Bengal Famine) is quite clear that the Bengal
Famine was not due to absence of food but to greatly elevated price in
a merciless, British-ruled free market in which those who couldn't buy
food simply starved. Burma occupation, Churchill's shipping cut-backs,
and divide-and-rule British granting of Indian provincial food
autonomy and other factors all contributed to the real killer ` the
huge increase in the price of rice, the Bengali staple that led to
millions starving in the midst of plenty.
(5). The Review then argues that `There was a war on. More pressing
military matters were at hand which governed his actions and
decisions'. This is indeed the view put forward by Professor Martin
Gilbert in his book `A History of the Twentieth Century. Volume Two
1933-1951' (William Morrow, New York , 1998) that is remarkable and
praiseworthy in British historiography for actually mentioning the
Bengal Famine, quote [my additions in square brackets]: `In the summer
of 1943, as supplies of rice ran out [incorrect], famine spread
through Bengal. Its ravages were savage and swift. The poor, and
villagers in the remoter regions were its main victims [people starved
in Calcutta], not only in Bengal, but in neighboring Orissa and
distant Malabar. Within a few months, as many as 1,500,000 Indians had
died [6-7 million died, 1943-1945]. The Bengal Famine was one of the
worst famines of the century [p522]¦Between 1939 and 1945 disease and
hunger had taken their toll, with war conditions making it much harder
to organize alleviation. In Bengal, a million and half Indians died of
starvation [6-7 million died in Bengal, Assam and Orissa] [p725]'.
Professor Sir Martin Gilbert (who I quote regularly on Jewish History
and the Jewish Holocaust) used the `excuse ` for war exigencies for
the inability of the British to take requisite action - yet he tells
us in his Jewish Holocaust histories (e.g. Gilbert, M. (1982), Atlas
of the Holocaust (Michael Joseph, London)) that 1 in 6 Jews died from
deprivation. Just imagine if a history of the 20th century devoted
just a couple of sentences to the Jewish Holocaust (5-6 million dead,
1 in 6 dying from deprivation) and commented `Between 1939 and 1945
disease and hunger had taken their toll, with war conditions making it
much harder to organize alleviation'. And yet Professor Gilbert's book
`A History of the Twentieth Century' is an outstanding exception in
British historiography in actually mentioning the Bengal Famine (6-7
million dead), the Bengali Holocaust that was indeed the first WW2
atrocity to actually be described as a `Holocaust' by Jog in 1944 (see
Jog, N.G. (1944), `Churchill's Blind-Spot: India' (New Book Company,
Bombay)).
Winston Churchill totally ignored the Bengali Holocaust (and the 6-7
million people he deliberately murdered) in his 6-volume work `The
Second World War' for which in part he got the 1953 Nobel Prize for
Literature ` and Professor Martin Gilbert also IGNORES the Bengali
Holocaust in his `definitive' history of Winston Churchill (see
Gilbert, M. (1991), `Churchill. A Life', Heinemann, London). Just
imagine a biography of Adolph Hitler that failed to mention the Jewish
Holocaust.
In Austria today anyone denying or minimizing the Jewish Holocaust
faces up to 10 years in prison and other European countries have
similarly criminalized such denial. Indeed it is also an offence to
deny the Armenian Genocide in France and Belgium and a few years ago
Germany suggested that the EU criminalize denial of all recent
holocausts. Indeed, I have argued that in the interests of free speech
and unfettered scholarship that there should be no-penalty
criminalization of denial or minimization of holocaust or genocide
atrocities in general.(the only `punishment' for the holocaust
minimizer would be the ignominy of public judicial exposure).
(6). The Review further quotes Arthur Herman [my corrections in
square brackets]: "Churchill was concerned about the humanitarian
catastrophe taking place there, and he pushed for whatever famine
relief efforts India itself could provide; they simply weren't
adequate [utterly incorrect]. Something like three million people died
in Bengal and other parts of southern India as a result [6-7 million
died]. We might even say that Churchill indirectly broke the Bengal
famine by appointing as Viceroy Field Marshal Wavell, who mobilized
the military to transport food and aid to the stricken regions
(something that hadn't occurred to anyone, apparently) [Churchill
repeatedly rejected Wavell calls for help].'
General Wavell's diaries repeatedly make it clear that Churchill hated
Indians and steadfastly refused his pleas for assistance with the
Bengal Famine (see Moon, P. (1973) (editor), Wavell. The Viceroy's
Journal (Oxford University Press, London) and Chapter 14 and 15, `Jane
Austen and the Black Hole of British History').
(7). The Review makes the astonishing assertion that `If the famine
had occurred in peacetime, it would have been dealt with effectively
and quickly by the Raj, as so often in the past'. British India was
maintained by starvation ` indeed a very good account of this is given
(with shocking photographs) by pro-Zionist Simon Schama in his
`History of Britain' (which nevertheless ignores the WW2 Bengal
Famine) (see Schama, S. (2002), `A History of Britain' (BBC, London);
also see Davis, M. (2001), `Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nino Famines
and the Making of the Third World' (Verso, London) and `Jane Austen
and the Black Hole of British History' by Gideon Polya).
British mass murder of Indians commenced with the Great Bengal Famine
in 1769-1779 (10 million deaths), concluded with the WW2 Bengal Famine
(6-7 million deaths) and Churchill-inspired Indian Partition - and in
between excess deaths (avoidable deaths) in 2 centuries of racist
British rule totalled 1.8 billion. Yet these horrendous realities
utterly ignored by Anglo historians (with a few notable exceptions) in
a process of continuing, racist holocaust denial.
This is what Colin Mason says of the Bengal Famine in his `A Short
History of Asia' (Macmillan, London, 2000, p178): `The famine, little
publicized at the time because of war-time censorship, and,
inexplicably, still ignored by many modern histories of India and most
standard reference works ¦ Several of the factors mentioned above
suggest a British `scorched earth policy: design to deny assets in
Bengal to the Japanese, at a monstrous cost, should they successfully
invade India, Those consequences severely indict British policy-makers
of the time, and the failure to investigate and acknowledge them, is
to the discredit of all subsequent British governments'.
Today in the second decade of the 21st century we have the same
continuing ignoring, denial, excusing and minimizing of not just the
Bengal Famine (6-7 million dead) and the British Indian Holocaust (1.8
billion excess deaths) but of the continuing, present-day atrocities
of the Palestinian Genocide, the Iraqi Genocide and the Afghan
Genocide ( post-invasion excess deaths 0.3 million, 2.5 million and
4.5 million, respectively; post-invasion under-5 infant deaths 0.2
million , 0.9 million and 2.4 million, respectively; and refugees
totalling 7 million, 5-6 million and 3-4 million, respectively).
There is an ongoing Muslim Holocaust that is simply ignored by the
West (see the `Muslim Holocaust, Muslim Genocide' website). Thus
post-1950 avoidable deaths (excess deaths, deaths that did not have to
happen) total 1.3 billion (the World), 1.2 billion (the non-European
World) and 0.6 billion (the Muslim World), these estimates being
consonant with estimates of post-1950 under-5 year old infant deaths
totalling 0.88 billion (the World), 0.85 billion (the non-European
World) and 0.4 billion (the Muslim World). 16 million people die
avoidably each year on a Spaceship Earth (roughly half of them
Muslims) with the First World in charge of the flight deck. Yet this
ongoing Muslim Holocaust is utterly IGNORED in the racist, lying,
Zionist-dominated Western Murdochracies (for details see `Body Count.
Global avoidable mortality since 1950', G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007 ).
However man-made global warming (the major climate criminal culprits
being Zionist-backed US Bush-ites and their White Australian lackeys)
threatens an even greater atrocity of Climate Genocide that, according
to top UK climate scientist Professor James Lovelock FRS, will leave
only 500 million (mostly European) survivors by the end of the
century. As with the Bengal Famine, the post-war global avoidable
mortality holocaust, a large proportion of the victims of this looming
Climate Genocide will be Muslims in a terminal Muslim Holocaust about
1,000 times greater than the WW2 Jewish Holocaust (see the `Climate
Genocide' website).
The fundamental messages from the Nazi German Jewish Holocaust (5-6
million dead, 1 in 6 dying from deprivation) and the contemporaneous
but `forgotten' (and when mentioned mostly `excused') British Bengali
Holocaust (6-7 million dead) are `zero tolerance for racism', never
again to anyone' and `bear witness'.
The latest estimates of the carnage in post-invasion Occupied Iraq are
of 1.4 million violent deaths, a further 1.1 million non-violent
excess deaths from deprivation, 0.9 million under-5 infant deaths (90%
avoidable and due to Occupier war crimes) and 5-6 million refugees
(simply see the `Iraqi Genocide' website for updated information); the
violent and non-violent excess death sin Iraq (1990-2010) total 4.4
million (see the `Iraqi Genocide' website).
Will the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war even mention the carnage
and devastation inflicted on Iraqi by Blair, Bush, Howard and their
associates? Cognizant of Sir Martin Gilbert's uneven record on the
WW2 Bengali Holocaust (6-7 million dead) and Churchill's role in that
atrocity, one can well wonder how Chilcot Iraq War Inquiry member Sir
Martin Gilbert (who enthusiastically supported the Iraq War) will
deal with Blair's complicity in the carnage in Iraq that has so far
involved 2.5 million post-invasion Iraqi excess deaths and 4.4 million
violent and non-violent excess Iraqi deaths since 1990.
http://mwcnews.net/focus/editorial/458-chur chills-crimes-a-chilcot-inquiry-on-iraq-war.html
Feb 6 2010
Churchill's Crimes & Chilcot Inquiry on Iraq War
Written by Gideon Polya
Sunday, 07 February 2010 04:02
Anglo Holocaust Commission
In WW2 Churchill deliberately starved 6-7 million Indians to death,
continued to foster Muslim-Hindu antipathy that led to the horrors of
Indian Partition and persuaded his War Cabinet on racist Partition of
Palestine. Yet Sir Martin Gilbert, an eminent UK historian and member
of the current UK Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War, made no mention
of Churchill's WW2 Bengali Holocaust in 2 definitive books about
Churchill.
Sir Martin Gilbert is an eminent UK historian and indeed I often have
occasion to refer to his works on Jewish history, Zionism, Churchill,
WW1, WW2 and 20th century history. He is to be praised as one of very
few UK historians who actually mention the 1943-1945 Bengal Famine, a
Bengali Holocaust that was to my knowledge the first such WW2 atrocity
to be referred to a `holocaust' (by N.G. Jog in 1944; see Jog, N.G.
(1944), `Churchill's Blind-Spot: India', New Book Company, Bombay).
Thus Sir Martin Gilbert refers (albeit very briefly) to `1.5 million'
Bengal Famine victims in at least 3 books, namely M. Gilbert,
`British History Atlas'(Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London , 1968), M.
Gilbert, `The Day the War Ended. VE-Day 1945 in Europe and Around the
World' and M. Gilbert, `A History of the Twentieth Century. Volume Two
1933-1951' (William Morrow, New York , 1998).
It is all the more remarkable then that Sir Martin Gilbert, the
world's top expert on Churchill, should have not included in 2 of his
key books on Churchill any mention of Churchill's WW2 Bengali
Holocaust ` a holocaust greater in terms of victims (6-7 million dead)
than the WW2 Jewish Holocaust (5-6 million dead, with 1 in 6 dying
from deprivation; see M. Gilbert, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1969
and M. Gilbert, `Atlas of the Holocaust', Michael Joseph, London,
1982).
Thus, to the best of my ascertainment, there is no mention of
Churchill's WW2 Bengal Famine atrocity in the following books by
Martin Gilbert about Churchill: M. Gilbert, `In Search of Churchill. A
historians Journey', Harper & Collins, London, 1994, and M. Gilbert,
M., `Churchill. A Life', Heinemann, London, 1991.
Just imagine a biography of Adolph Hitler that made no mention of the
WW2 Jewish Holocaust or indeed of his other atrocities, most notably
the 30 million Slavs, Jews and Gypsies killed by the Nazis in WW2.
Of course, Churchill's crimes were not confined to the deliberate,
sustained mass murder of 6-7 million Indians in WW2. For your
convenience, I have simply listed below an expanded list of immense
crimes in which Churchill was complicit as a racist soldier,
politician, mass murderer and holocaust-denying writer ` indeed he
was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953 for his numerous
published works, especially his six-edition set The Second World War
in which he ignored his deliberate, remorseless murder of 6-7 million
Indians in 1943-1945 [ I have provided estimates of violent and
non-violent avoidable deaths in square brackets].
A key reference for the list of Churchill's crimes is my book `Jane
Austen and the Black Hole of British History. Colonial rapacity,
holocaust denial and the crisis in global sustainability', G.M. Polya,
Melbourne, 2008.
1. British Indian Holocaust (1.8 billion excess deaths, 1757-1947; 10
million killed in post-1857 Indian Mutiny reprisals; 1 million
starved, 1895-1897 Indian Famine; 6-9 million starved, 1899-1900
Indian Famine; 6-7 million starved under Churchill, Bengali Holocaust
1943-1945].
2. Sudan atrocities [horrendous British atrocities after the Battle
of Obdurman 1898].
3. Boer (Afrikaaner) Genocide [28,000 Afrikaaner women and children
died in British concentration camps, 1899-1902].
4. World War 1 promotion [World War I Allied military and civilian
dead 5.7 million and 3.7 million, respectively; German-allied (Central
Powers) military and civilian deaths 4.0 million and 5.2 million;
troop movement-exacerbated Spanish Flu Epidemic killed 20-100 million
people world wide. 1918-1922].
5. WW1 Dardanelles Campaign in Turkey [0.2 million Allied and Turkish
soldiers killed, 1915; precipitated 1915-1923 Turkish Armenian
Genocide, 1.5 million Armenians killed].
6. UK and US invasion of Russia 1917-1919 [millions died in the
Russian Civil War and the subsequent Russian Famine; 7 million died in
the circa 1930 Ukrainian Famine; and perhaps up to 20 million died
overall in Stalinist atrocities].
7. British suppression of the Arab revolt in Iraq (invaded by Britain
in 1914) [bombing of Kurds, poison gas use (1920s); violent UK
involvement on and off , 1914-2009; 1990-2008 Iraqi excess deaths 4
million; under-5 infant deaths 1.8 million; refugees currently 6
million].
8. Support for British Occupation and opposition to Indian
self-determination [1757-1947 excess deaths, 1.8 billion; 1895-1897
famine deaths1 million; 1899-1900 Indian Famine, deaths6-9 million
deaths; 1943-1945 Bengali Holocaust deaths 6-7 million].
9. World War 2 promotion [World War 2 military deaths 25 million and
civilian deaths about 67 million].
10. Promotion of Japan entry into World War 2 in order to involve the
US and hence ensure victory [35 million Chinese avoidable deaths,
1937-1945; 6-7 million Indians starved, Bengal 1943-1945; millions
more died in the WW2 Eastern Theatre].
11. Churchill knew Singapore was indefensible [8,000-15,000 killed,
130,000 captured in the 1941 Malaya campaign; 14,000 Australian,
16,000 British and 32,000 Indian troops surrendered in Singapore] (see
Rusbridger, J. and Nave, E. (1991), `Betrayal at Pearl Harbor. How
Churchill Lured Roosevelt into World War II', Summit, New York).
12. Churchill deliberately did not warn Americans about Pearl Harbor
attack [Eastern Theatre WW2 deaths 45 million] (see Rusbridger, J. and
Nave, E. (1991), `Betrayal at Pearl Harbor. How Churchill Lured
Roosevelt into World War II', Summit, New York).
13. WW2 Bengal Holocaust, Bengal Famine [deliberate starving to death
of of 6-7 million Indians; confessed by Churchill in a letter to
Roosevelt]
14. Churchill rejected top scientific advice and supported bombing of
German cities instead of protecting Atlantic convoys [0.16 million
allied airmen killed; 0.6 million German civilians killed; Battle of
the Atlantic almost lost; 7 million dead from famine in the Indian
Ocean region related to halving of Allied shipping in 1943].
15. Churchill acknowledged the crucial importance of maintaining
Hindu-Muslim antipathy to preserve British rule [1 million dead and 18
million Muslim and Hindu refugees associated with India-Pakistan
Partition in 1947].
16. 1944 UK War Cabinet decision Partition of Palestine [in 1878, Jews
were 5% of the Palestine population; in 1948 Jews were 1/3 of the
population; there are now over 7 million Palestinian refugees;
post-1967 Occupied Palestinian excess deaths 0.3 million, post-1967
under-5 infant deaths 0.2 million; excess deaths in countries
partially or completely occupied by Apartheid Israel now total about
24 million; 4 million Occupied Palestinians are still illegally and
abusively imprisoned by racist Zionists in their own country].
17. UK rejection of 1944 Brand plan to save Hungarian Jews [0.2-0.4
million killed by Nazis and Arrow Cross fascists out of 0.7 million;
Zionists also opposed the Brand plan]
18. British, American, Zionist, Australian and European adoption of
Churchill's holocaust commission and holocaust denying legacy, with
post-war atrocities involving invasion, occupation, devastation and
genocide [in relation to Occupiers (in parenthesis) 1950-2005 excess
deaths in post-1945 occupied countries total 2 million (white
Australia), 36 million (Belgium), 142 million (France), 24 million
(Apartheid Israel), 0.7 million (Apartheid South Africa), 23 million
(Portugal), 37 million (Russia), 9 million (Spain), 727 million (the
UK) and 82 million (the US); 25 million Indigenous excess deaths in
post-1950 US Asian Wars; 9-11 million excess deaths associated with
1990-2008 Bush Wars; post-invasion excess deaths in Occupied Iraq 2.5
million, refugees 5-6 million; post-invasion excess deaths in Occupied
Afghanistan 4.5 million, refugees 3-4 million].
To paraphrase mathematician satirist Tom Lehrer's song `The Elements',
`These are the only Churchill crimes currently known to Harvard/But
there may be many others that haven't been discARvered'. However most
of these enormous crimes are well hidden by Anglo historians ,
journalists, politicians, academics and writers.
While pro-Zionist Anglo censorship evidenced above is utterly
obnoxious, the Churchill Centre (US and world-wide) must be
complimented for publishing a critical review of my article, a Review
that adduced the opinions of major historians, including Professor
Sir Martin Gilbert, an eminent historian whose works I and no doubt
numerous others turn to for information about Churchill, World War 2 ,
the Jewish Holocaust and Jewish history (see Churchill Centre, `The
Bengali Famine', 2008 ) . My responses to what I will refer to below
as `the Review' are listed below.
(1). The Review was quite nastily critical of my article and
commencing with the false assertion `Mr. [Dr] Polya begins by
dismissing all historians who disagree with him as Anglo-American and
Zionist propagandists, including official biographer Sir Martin
Gilbert' ` what I actually did say was, quote: `Yet, to list just s
few examples of UK-US holocaust ignoring, there is absolutely NO
mention of the 1943-1945 Bengali Holocaust in the biography of
Winston Churchill by pro-Zionist Professor Sir Martin Gilbert
(Gilbert, M. (1991), Churchill. A Life (Heinemann, London); the recent
histories by leading conservative Australian historian Professor
Geoffrey Blainey (Blainey, G. (2000), A Short History of the World
(Viking, Melbourne), Blainey, G. (2004), A Very Short History of the
World (Viking, Melbourne), Blainey, G. (2005), A Short History of the
20th Century (Penguin, Melbourne); the recent history of Britain by
pro-Zionist Professor Simon Schama (Schama, S. (2002), A History of
Britain (BBC, London)); or even in an important book on Denial
entitled "Denial. History betrayed" by Australian historian Professor
Tony Taylor (Monash University, Melbourne (see my book :Jane Austen
and the Black Hole of British History. Colonial rapacity, holocaust
denial and the crisis in global sustainability', G.M. Polya,
Melbourne, 2008).
(2). The Review says that it sought comment and obtained the following
bald denial comment from Professor Sir Martin Gilbert: `Churchill was
not responsible for the Bengal Famine. I have been searching for
evidence for years: none has turned up. The 1944 Document volume of
the official biography [Hillsdale College Press] will resolve this
issue finally.'
However with due respect for Professor Gilbert's eminence, (a)
Churchill was the ruler and the Ruler is responsible for the Ruled;
(b), 6-7 million Indians perished (latest estimate from medical
historian Dr Sanjoy Bhattacharya , Wellcome Institute, University
College London); (c) 1998 Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya
Sen blames the Ruler for a needless disaster; (d) and most importantly
Churchill himself actually confessed his inaction as follows in a
now-released secret letter to Roosevelt in 1944 in stating `I am no
longer justified in not asking for your help' (p158, `Jane Austen and
the Black Hole of British History. Colonial rapacity, holocaust denial
and the crisis in global sustainability').
For a recent, succinct account of the `forgotten' World War 2 Bengal
Famine see the 2008 BBC broadcast entitled `Bengal Famine. The things
we forgot to remember' and involving me, 1998 Economics Nobel Laureate
Professor Amartya Sen , Dr Sanjoy Bhattacharya , Wellcome Institute,
University College London and other scholars ).
(3) The Review then quite astonishingly supports my thesis and itself
DAMNS Churchill with the following, QUOTE: `Arthur Herman's excellent
and balanced Gandhi & Churchill (New York: Bantam, 2008, reviewed in
Finest Hour 138: 51-52). There is quite a lot on the Bengal Famine (pp
512 et. seq.), which Herman believes `did more than Gandhi to
undermine Indian confidence in the Raj.' Secretary of State for India
Leo Amery, Herman writes, `at first took a lofty Malthusian view of
the crisis, arguing that India was `overpopulated' and that the best
strategy was to do nothing. But by early summer even Amery was
concerned and urged the War Cabinet to take drastic action.... For his
part, Churchill proved callously indifferent. Since Gandhi's fast his
mood about India had progressively darkened.....[He was] resolutely
opposed to any food shipments. Ships were desperately needed for the
landings in Italy....Besides, Churchill felt it would do no good.
Famine or no famine, Indians will `breed like rabbits.' Amery
prevailed on him to send some relief, albeit only a quarter what was
needed.'
Malthusian over-population as an excuse for allowing mass death is
obscene. Yet Churchill put it more bluntly in the only public
statement of Churchill's about the Bengal famine that I have been able
to find is Churchill's notorious anti-Indian comment that `they breed
like rabbits' as quoted by India 's Nobel Prize-winning economist
Professor Amartya Sen in an essay to Asian Institute of Technology
(2002): `Winston Churchill's famous remark about the 1943 Bengal
famine - that it was caused by the tendency of the people to breed
like rabbits - belongs to this general tradition of blaming the
colonial subject'.
One has to turn to the Whitehall, London, UK supervisor of the 1840s
Irish Potato Famine (1 million killed, 1.5 million emigrated) ,
Charles Trevelyan, for a comparably obscene viewpoint about man-made
mass starvation: `This being altogether beyond the power of man, the
cure had been applied by the direct stroke of an all-wise Providence
in a manner as unexpected and unthought of as it is likely to be
effectual.' (1846, C.E. Trevelyan, the responsible Undersecretary for
the Treasury, commenting in 1846 on the Irish famine as a `cure' for
Irish overpopulation) (see p257, Edwards, R.D. and Williams, T.D.
(1957) (editors), The Great Famine. Studies in Irish History 1845-52
(New York University Press, New York).
Indeed G.M. Trevelyan (Regius Professor of Modern History and Master
of Trinity College, Cambridge, and grandson of the English official
Charles Trevelyan who supervised the Irish Famine) fails to mention
the Irish Famine (and the Bengal Famine) in his `authoritative'
`History of England' (Longmans. London), except for a brief aside:
`the potato blight in Ireland in 1845-6 left him [Peel] no other
choice than either to suspend the Corn Laws or to allow the Irish to
die by tens of thousands' i.e. he suggests that the Irish Famine [1
million dead, 1.5 million forced to emigrate] was something averted by
benign English wisdom (see p114, Chapter 13, `Jane Austen and the
Black Hole of British History').
(4). The Review gets an opinion from historian Arthur Herman who,
notwithstanding his `Churchill proved callously indifferent' above,
states, QUOTE: `The idea that Churchill was in any way `responsible'
or `caused' the Bengal famine is of course absurd. The real cause was
the fall of Burma to the Japanese, which cut off India's main supply
of rice imports when domestic sources fell short, which they did in
Eastern Bengal after a devastating cyclone in mid-October 1942'.
However this is simply incorrect.
1998 Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen (Harvard
University, formerly at Cambridge University, who witnessed the Bengal
Famine as a child and was awarded the Nobel Prize for studies on
famines, including the Bengal Famine) is quite clear that the Bengal
Famine was not due to absence of food but to greatly elevated price in
a merciless, British-ruled free market in which those who couldn't buy
food simply starved. Burma occupation, Churchill's shipping cut-backs,
and divide-and-rule British granting of Indian provincial food
autonomy and other factors all contributed to the real killer ` the
huge increase in the price of rice, the Bengali staple that led to
millions starving in the midst of plenty.
(5). The Review then argues that `There was a war on. More pressing
military matters were at hand which governed his actions and
decisions'. This is indeed the view put forward by Professor Martin
Gilbert in his book `A History of the Twentieth Century. Volume Two
1933-1951' (William Morrow, New York , 1998) that is remarkable and
praiseworthy in British historiography for actually mentioning the
Bengal Famine, quote [my additions in square brackets]: `In the summer
of 1943, as supplies of rice ran out [incorrect], famine spread
through Bengal. Its ravages were savage and swift. The poor, and
villagers in the remoter regions were its main victims [people starved
in Calcutta], not only in Bengal, but in neighboring Orissa and
distant Malabar. Within a few months, as many as 1,500,000 Indians had
died [6-7 million died, 1943-1945]. The Bengal Famine was one of the
worst famines of the century [p522]¦Between 1939 and 1945 disease and
hunger had taken their toll, with war conditions making it much harder
to organize alleviation. In Bengal, a million and half Indians died of
starvation [6-7 million died in Bengal, Assam and Orissa] [p725]'.
Professor Sir Martin Gilbert (who I quote regularly on Jewish History
and the Jewish Holocaust) used the `excuse ` for war exigencies for
the inability of the British to take requisite action - yet he tells
us in his Jewish Holocaust histories (e.g. Gilbert, M. (1982), Atlas
of the Holocaust (Michael Joseph, London)) that 1 in 6 Jews died from
deprivation. Just imagine if a history of the 20th century devoted
just a couple of sentences to the Jewish Holocaust (5-6 million dead,
1 in 6 dying from deprivation) and commented `Between 1939 and 1945
disease and hunger had taken their toll, with war conditions making it
much harder to organize alleviation'. And yet Professor Gilbert's book
`A History of the Twentieth Century' is an outstanding exception in
British historiography in actually mentioning the Bengal Famine (6-7
million dead), the Bengali Holocaust that was indeed the first WW2
atrocity to actually be described as a `Holocaust' by Jog in 1944 (see
Jog, N.G. (1944), `Churchill's Blind-Spot: India' (New Book Company,
Bombay)).
Winston Churchill totally ignored the Bengali Holocaust (and the 6-7
million people he deliberately murdered) in his 6-volume work `The
Second World War' for which in part he got the 1953 Nobel Prize for
Literature ` and Professor Martin Gilbert also IGNORES the Bengali
Holocaust in his `definitive' history of Winston Churchill (see
Gilbert, M. (1991), `Churchill. A Life', Heinemann, London). Just
imagine a biography of Adolph Hitler that failed to mention the Jewish
Holocaust.
In Austria today anyone denying or minimizing the Jewish Holocaust
faces up to 10 years in prison and other European countries have
similarly criminalized such denial. Indeed it is also an offence to
deny the Armenian Genocide in France and Belgium and a few years ago
Germany suggested that the EU criminalize denial of all recent
holocausts. Indeed, I have argued that in the interests of free speech
and unfettered scholarship that there should be no-penalty
criminalization of denial or minimization of holocaust or genocide
atrocities in general.(the only `punishment' for the holocaust
minimizer would be the ignominy of public judicial exposure).
(6). The Review further quotes Arthur Herman [my corrections in
square brackets]: "Churchill was concerned about the humanitarian
catastrophe taking place there, and he pushed for whatever famine
relief efforts India itself could provide; they simply weren't
adequate [utterly incorrect]. Something like three million people died
in Bengal and other parts of southern India as a result [6-7 million
died]. We might even say that Churchill indirectly broke the Bengal
famine by appointing as Viceroy Field Marshal Wavell, who mobilized
the military to transport food and aid to the stricken regions
(something that hadn't occurred to anyone, apparently) [Churchill
repeatedly rejected Wavell calls for help].'
General Wavell's diaries repeatedly make it clear that Churchill hated
Indians and steadfastly refused his pleas for assistance with the
Bengal Famine (see Moon, P. (1973) (editor), Wavell. The Viceroy's
Journal (Oxford University Press, London) and Chapter 14 and 15, `Jane
Austen and the Black Hole of British History').
(7). The Review makes the astonishing assertion that `If the famine
had occurred in peacetime, it would have been dealt with effectively
and quickly by the Raj, as so often in the past'. British India was
maintained by starvation ` indeed a very good account of this is given
(with shocking photographs) by pro-Zionist Simon Schama in his
`History of Britain' (which nevertheless ignores the WW2 Bengal
Famine) (see Schama, S. (2002), `A History of Britain' (BBC, London);
also see Davis, M. (2001), `Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nino Famines
and the Making of the Third World' (Verso, London) and `Jane Austen
and the Black Hole of British History' by Gideon Polya).
British mass murder of Indians commenced with the Great Bengal Famine
in 1769-1779 (10 million deaths), concluded with the WW2 Bengal Famine
(6-7 million deaths) and Churchill-inspired Indian Partition - and in
between excess deaths (avoidable deaths) in 2 centuries of racist
British rule totalled 1.8 billion. Yet these horrendous realities
utterly ignored by Anglo historians (with a few notable exceptions) in
a process of continuing, racist holocaust denial.
This is what Colin Mason says of the Bengal Famine in his `A Short
History of Asia' (Macmillan, London, 2000, p178): `The famine, little
publicized at the time because of war-time censorship, and,
inexplicably, still ignored by many modern histories of India and most
standard reference works ¦ Several of the factors mentioned above
suggest a British `scorched earth policy: design to deny assets in
Bengal to the Japanese, at a monstrous cost, should they successfully
invade India, Those consequences severely indict British policy-makers
of the time, and the failure to investigate and acknowledge them, is
to the discredit of all subsequent British governments'.
Today in the second decade of the 21st century we have the same
continuing ignoring, denial, excusing and minimizing of not just the
Bengal Famine (6-7 million dead) and the British Indian Holocaust (1.8
billion excess deaths) but of the continuing, present-day atrocities
of the Palestinian Genocide, the Iraqi Genocide and the Afghan
Genocide ( post-invasion excess deaths 0.3 million, 2.5 million and
4.5 million, respectively; post-invasion under-5 infant deaths 0.2
million , 0.9 million and 2.4 million, respectively; and refugees
totalling 7 million, 5-6 million and 3-4 million, respectively).
There is an ongoing Muslim Holocaust that is simply ignored by the
West (see the `Muslim Holocaust, Muslim Genocide' website). Thus
post-1950 avoidable deaths (excess deaths, deaths that did not have to
happen) total 1.3 billion (the World), 1.2 billion (the non-European
World) and 0.6 billion (the Muslim World), these estimates being
consonant with estimates of post-1950 under-5 year old infant deaths
totalling 0.88 billion (the World), 0.85 billion (the non-European
World) and 0.4 billion (the Muslim World). 16 million people die
avoidably each year on a Spaceship Earth (roughly half of them
Muslims) with the First World in charge of the flight deck. Yet this
ongoing Muslim Holocaust is utterly IGNORED in the racist, lying,
Zionist-dominated Western Murdochracies (for details see `Body Count.
Global avoidable mortality since 1950', G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007 ).
However man-made global warming (the major climate criminal culprits
being Zionist-backed US Bush-ites and their White Australian lackeys)
threatens an even greater atrocity of Climate Genocide that, according
to top UK climate scientist Professor James Lovelock FRS, will leave
only 500 million (mostly European) survivors by the end of the
century. As with the Bengal Famine, the post-war global avoidable
mortality holocaust, a large proportion of the victims of this looming
Climate Genocide will be Muslims in a terminal Muslim Holocaust about
1,000 times greater than the WW2 Jewish Holocaust (see the `Climate
Genocide' website).
The fundamental messages from the Nazi German Jewish Holocaust (5-6
million dead, 1 in 6 dying from deprivation) and the contemporaneous
but `forgotten' (and when mentioned mostly `excused') British Bengali
Holocaust (6-7 million dead) are `zero tolerance for racism', never
again to anyone' and `bear witness'.
The latest estimates of the carnage in post-invasion Occupied Iraq are
of 1.4 million violent deaths, a further 1.1 million non-violent
excess deaths from deprivation, 0.9 million under-5 infant deaths (90%
avoidable and due to Occupier war crimes) and 5-6 million refugees
(simply see the `Iraqi Genocide' website for updated information); the
violent and non-violent excess death sin Iraq (1990-2010) total 4.4
million (see the `Iraqi Genocide' website).
Will the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war even mention the carnage
and devastation inflicted on Iraqi by Blair, Bush, Howard and their
associates? Cognizant of Sir Martin Gilbert's uneven record on the
WW2 Bengali Holocaust (6-7 million dead) and Churchill's role in that
atrocity, one can well wonder how Chilcot Iraq War Inquiry member Sir
Martin Gilbert (who enthusiastically supported the Iraq War) will
deal with Blair's complicity in the carnage in Iraq that has so far
involved 2.5 million post-invasion Iraqi excess deaths and 4.4 million
violent and non-violent excess Iraqi deaths since 1990.
http://mwcnews.net/focus/editorial/458-chur chills-crimes-a-chilcot-inquiry-on-iraq-war.html