Once in a Lifetime Still Ain’t Bad…
Friday, March 14th, 2008With the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq rapidly approaching, I’m the first to admit that, at the time and, with all the talk of Weapons of Mass Destruction, overt support of terrorism and totalitarian dictatorships, I supported military action.
History has proven me to be utterly, totally and completely wrong and the UK’s involvement (which, I still believe, was motivated by the best of intentions) nothing short of catastrophic. An article by Martin Samuel of The Times sums up the extent of this folly far more eloquently than I ever could:
Is the region safer? No. Is the world safer? No. Is the West safer? No. Are the Iraqi people safer? No. Have we made a bad situation worse? Yes. Has our international standing improved? No. Did we find any weapons? No. Did we find Osama bin Laden? No. Will it be over soon? No. Is it a recruitment poster for al-Qaeda? Yes. Did we at least get some cheap petrol out of it? No.
Best of intentions or not… the albatross of Iraq will be hanging round the necks of the West for the forseeable future, and well beyond.
Posted in Politics | No Comments »