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The war in Iraq

Friday 25th May 2007 11:29 in Misc

IraqMost British people (or certainly the vocal ones) were strongly against the war in Iraq (not that it was much of a “war”), but I was in favour of the invasion, on the grounds that if you have the power to do something about oppression and routine torture in a country, you should do it. I considered the “do-gooders” in the UK to be two-faced in the sense that they are always telling leaders they should act to dismantle aggressive regimes, but then when they do something they are condemned for it. They are quite simply damned if they do, and damned if they don’t.

I didn’t care about the motives of the Iraq invasion, but I cared that they sought to take down a murderous dictator; the measure was long overdue. I dare say Tony Blair did not have sufficient confidence in the British people to come clean that there were no WMDs. If he had said “It is morally right for us to take this leader down” he would have been faced with the short-sighted “I’m alright Jack” mentality of most people in the United Kingdom and been unable to act.

Now, the invasion turned out to be a disaster. Not because it was morally wrong, but because (incredibly) insufficient thought was given to how to handle the country after its successful liberation. I’d like to point out that few voices objected to the invasion on these grounds (which are the grounds that actually turned out to be the problem) - everybody objected merely on the grounds of WMDs.

I’d also like to point out that most people do not understand the importance of Britain being close to America, the world’s superpower. I am sure Tony Blair (for all his faults, and I think he has many) did try to put across the British point of view, but Britain cannot afford to alienate itself, and it is naive to think otherwise.

The invasion of Iraq was a mistake, but not for the reasons that most people think.





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