In 2006, Andrew Sullivan wrote a book called The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It, How To Get It Back. It is a great book, written by one of Britain’s and America’s leading conservatives ‘with a conscience’, but that is, sadly, not what this column is about. This column is about the Iranian hostage crisis and the way Britain dealt with it.
If I were to write a book about this crisis, I would name it The British Soul: How They Lost It, How They Can Get It Back. The hostage crisis showed that Britain, once an empire, has become a country without a soul. The British people, once proud, confident, determined, and unwavering have become a people of complacency. “Rule Britannia, rule the waves� has become “Rule Britannia, rule the Thames, except for when doing so might prove difficult and / or dangerous.�
How did this all happen? When did it happen, is a question many non-British like myself ask themselves. What happened to the country that once told Hitler “give us liberty, or give us death, but we will never surrender�? What happened to the country that brought forth the biggest hero of the 20th century, Winston Churchill?
If the British were still proud of their culture, their nation, and their heritage, they would have taken the streets and protested before the Iranian embassy in London. Instead of protesting, instead of condemning the Mullahs ruling over Iran with an iron fist, the British people told their leaders to negotiate with the Mullahs. To do everything necessary to get the sailors and marines back who were kidnapped by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Of course, this is something no one has to tell Blair and Brown et al. Their natural impulse in this kind of situation is to pick up the phone and ask the Mullah-thugs why ‘we can’t all just get along?’ Two days before the hostages were released Tony Blair said something that captures this attitude quite well: “we’re not looking for confrontation over this�, Blair told reporters, “and actually the most important thing is to get the people back safe and sound and if they want to resolve this in a diplomatic way the door is open.�
And that is where Blair is (/was) wrong. The most important thing was not to get the “people back safe and sound�. The most important thing was to “get the people back safe and sound� without giving Iran what it wants. Whatever happened, Iran could not be allowed to appear to be the winner of this crisis. Britain had to stand tall, refuse to give in and demand that the hostages would be released as soon as possible, if not – Britain would have acted. This would have included, if necessary, the building of a coalition to strike against targets in Iran although that option should, of course, be a last resort.
As to my question ‘how did Britain lose her soul’, I am inclined to believe that what caused Britains demise, what caused Britain to lose her soul, is moral relativism. Moral relativism, as taught on most universities, high schools, etc., has taught the British that their history is one of oppression of other peoples, that whatever Britain stands for is wrong and that whatever Britain’s enemies stand for is quite alright, or at least understandable and when a country like Iran does something unacceptable, well, it is most likely Britain’s fault anyway.
The answer to the second question, then, becomes quite simple: Britain has to break with moral relativism. Britain has to, once again, be proud of her history, of herself. Britain was once the most powerful nation of the world, those times will not come back, but Britain does not have to let the leaders of some third world country get away with kidnapping her sailors and marines either. When push comes to shove, Britain is still able to play an important role on the international stage. All she has to do is to regain her soul.
If she does not, I fear that both Britain and Europe as a whole will become increasingly weak and irrelevant. If Britain does what she needs to do, she will become the leader of Europe: other European countries will follow Britain’s lead.
If not, other European countries will still follow Britain’s lead, which will lead to more crises, and even disasters in the (near) future.
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