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Quote of the Day
"This is simply a warning shot across the bows of the Iraqi leadership" - Foreign Secretary Geoff Hoon describes today's attacks on Iraq

War War War, Jaw Jaw Jaw
War in Iraq is upon us today. Could today be a momentous day in history? The overthrowing of the evil dictator Saddam Hussein? Or merely the beginning of World War III? Sadly, only time will tell. I am against the war without a second UN resolution, however, I realise that Mr. Tony Blair believes he is doing what is best for the UK. Bush on the other hand, well, I'm not so sure what his reasons are, but jingoism aside, he hasn't properly explained himself. But who am I to disagree?

This war is wrong. It did not need to happen; it is unnecessary and was avoidable. There was still time; there were other ways and reasonable alternatives. But they were not honestly explored. In the mad, maddening rush to arms, the point of last resort was not reached. The case was not made; indeed, the wider international and domestic argument was lost. As US and British forces moved to forward battle positions last night and Iraq's civilian population sought shelter before the approaching storm, it was clear that those political leaders who set this conflict in train now carry an enormous responsibility. The responsibility is all the greater since it is by no means clear that it is fortified by international law, morality, logic or common sense.

There is the hope that Saddam, despite most predictions, may still flee or be overthrown and that his armies will heed US calls to surrender. The prospect that Iraq's dictator will at last be deposed is perhaps the only clear-cut benefit of this entire adventure. There is the hope that, despite months of US scare-mongering, Saddam will not use chemical or biological weapons. There is the hope that Iraq will not quickly splinter into myriad warring factions, creeds and clans and that Turkey's likely intervention in the north does not lead to ethnic conflict there. There is also the hope that the US military strategy, reliant on relatively few, fast-moving ground troops and tanks, supported from the air, will be able to engage and seize their objectives as quickly as planned. Last but not least, there is the profoundly-felt hope that Britain's own forces will escape serious mauling - and that any casualties, unlike after the last Gulf war, will be properly cared for when they come home. Sadly, Britain's fingers-crossed foreign policy means having to hope also that the government's failure to secure clear UN and legal authority does not compromise our soldiers.

The aims of this war have been unclear all along. That confusion must now end. The objective is not a US-run Iraq or some grandiose, US-designed regional reformation. It is an independent, integrated state led by indigenous Iraqis empowered by free elections and working in partnership with the UN. Tony Blair's assurance yesterday that Britain will seek agreement to establish a leading role for the UN is welcome. Getting in is much easier than getting out; but get out quickly the US must. Whatever Dick Cheney and his far-right friends may think, they have no business there.

Stop the War website can be found at: http://www.stopwar.org.uk/

This is a political war, a war of power largely orchestrated by the ideologues and zealots who surround that most implausible of presidents, George Bush. This recourse to war is a substitute for thought and understanding, divisive in conception and enormously damaging to the international order. More broadly, this is a war between powerful men on all sides, men accustomed to getting their own way. It is not a popularly-endorsed war, however hard they try to portray it so - not by the peoples of Iraq or the Muslim sphere or the peoples of the west. They did not want it. But it is ordinary people everywhere who will be affected by the imminent instability and terror. By this untimely, pre-emptive act are all debates, all protests and petitions, and - to most eyes - all UN processes set at nought. All that remains is the sad, fretful hope that it will soon be over.

Hope is - and should be - the policy now. In truth, hope is the only policy for a Britain committed to the US come what may, almost wholly deprived of its independence of action, both military and diplomatic, and at the mercy of events directed in Washington. There is the hope that civilian casualties are kept to a minimum (whatever that means) and the American bombs and missiles are indeed "smarter" than in 1991. There is the hope that pledges to avoid essential civilian infrastructure such as hospitals and power plants will be honoured. This war will be prosecuted, says US Admiral Timothy Keating, with "breath-taking speed, agility, precision and persistence". Well, we shall see. Aid agencies warn of possible humanitarian and refugee crises. Hopefully, these human tragedies will not materialise.

This is my personality type apparently, I don't agree but what do I know?

Conscious self	Overall self

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