Wednesday, January 22, 2003
Now, I don't much care for political blogs... in truth, they bore me senseless, but just this once, I'm gonna do something I wouldn't normally do, and state my views on the potential war with Iraq. I dare say none of this will be new to anyone, as it's mostly pretty obvious. I just feel like throwing my two pence worth in.First and foremost, and despite what the likes of George Bush and Tony Blair would have everyone believe, this (potential) war is not about Iraq supposedly having weapons of mass destruction, though I suspect Britain's reason for going ahead is enitrly different to that of America.
To quote George Bush "It's clear to me now that he (Sadam) is not disarming,"
Really? How exactly is it clear to him? Does he have a crystal ball? The weapons inspectors have found nothing, and he's obviously not prepared to wait for them to complete their inspections, so there has to be another motive.
For America, it's mostly about oil. After 9/11, Bush rather wants to distance himself from Saudi Arabia, since most of the terrorists who committed that atrocity were from there... so, what would be a good alternate supplier? Oh look... Iraq has lots of oil, no-one much likes them, and with all the fears of terrorism and terrorist supporting countries, it wouldn't take a great leap of imagination to trump up some excuse to invade them and take control of their oil. For sure, America won't simply take over Iraq and steal their oil, but it's a pretty safe bet they'll have the final say on who governs the country after Sadam's been toppled... the most likely candidates to succeed him obviously being those who'll offer America the best deal on oil.
There may be another possible reason behind Bush's urgency to go to war though, that being his general incompetence on the home front. Just like Maggie Thatcher in the 80s, things were looking pretty lousy on the domestic political scene, but the Falklands war pushed her popularity sky high and kept her in office for years to come. Bush is clearly taking a gamble here, hoping that a tough stance against an aparrently agressive nation will improve his standing. I dunno that this'll pay off though, `cause the last report I heard said 80% of Americans were opposed to a war against Iraq, at least without a UN mandate.
Britain's involvement, I think, is not quite as clear cut. It's not about the oil, and it's certainly not about any potential threat. Truth is, the reasons are probably mostly historic. Firstly, Britain still owes America a huge favour from WWII, with the so called 'Lend/Lease' arms deal. America basicly gave us tanks, and whatever other hardware we needed, to be paid back in whatever form was convenient... that turning out to be co-operation in military action (so it seems).
A second major reason is that Britain REALLY needs America, kind of like a big brother. Even after the break up of the British Empire, and with numerous countries around the world who hate our guts after we dominated them, expolited their resources and whatever, we still have a massive influence over world politics. Quite astounding when you consider how small a country this is, and hence how small our industrail strength is compared to many other nations. The reason is simple. We back up America whenever they ask, and they'll come to our aid should any other nation decide they've had enough of this annoying little terrier of a nation. "If you piss me off, I'll set my big brother on you."
We hope they would anyway... this hasn't been put to the test since WWII.
If there's another reason behind Briatain's involvement, it's a very basic and primitive one. Britain IS a warlike nation. We love a fight, and will gladly kick another nation's arse, just to show our troops are better than theirs.
Controversial? Almost certainly.
Overly simplistic? Maybe.
The truth? I think so, you may not... but I'll tell you this, the decision to go to war has already been made, and it has bugger all to do with anything the arms inspectors may or may not find in Iraq.
Do I believe this is a justifiable war? Hell no, but just like any other bloodthirsty immoral asshole, so long as it doesn't affect me, I'll lap up the free firework show on tv every night, without sparing a thought for the thousands of innocent people who'll suffer.
The simple truth is, humans as a species thrive on violence. The only real difference between us and a band of warring baboons is that we have bigger guns, and get to watch it live on tv.
A bigger question though is, will we actually win this war? I'm not so certain this will remain a war between Iraq and America/Britain + allies. If others join in opposition, and with the current atmosphere in many muslim nations, where they feel they're being oppressed beyond all reasonable tollerance, things may not turn out quite as people expect. I'm not saying the allied western nations will get their arses kicked, but things may get VERY messy.
Labels: war
Steve 12:12 PM [+]
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