Still Not Sorry

With Baghdad firmly captured and the American's happily kingmaking, there has been a lot of gloating from the hawks. Should those of us who opposed the war now admit that things went better than we had predicted? Have the hawks proved it was all worth it? Have we, as the BBC put it, been proven wrong? Should we apologise to the Iraqi people for attempting to stand in the way of their glorious liberation? I, for one, am not sorry. Indeed, I still cannot see any justification for this illegal, immoral invasion.

We are told that the Iraqi people are grateful for their liberation. Tell that to the thousands who died, and the thousands more who were maimed, injured, or psychologically scarred. Tell it to the Turkomans reportedly being massacred by Kurds with the implicit approval of the nearest American forces. Tell it to those who have been lynched by their neighbours. Tell it to those whose livelihoods have been destroyed by looters, or who have been murdered attempting to protect what is theirs.

The truth is that this invasion has in many ways been worse than I predicted, although not as bad as I had feared. The entirely predictable and preventable looting is a major disaster for Iraq, damaging the very infrastructure that is needed for swift rebuilding. The economy will now take significantly longer to recover, and the damage to health and other basic services will be expensive to repair. The damage to the cultural and archaeological history of Iraq cannot be repaired. Iraq has lost a part of itself, as well as a valuable tourism resource. We have all lost part of our heritage. The artefacts looted from Iraqi museums and universities represent a link back to our origins in the nuclear city-states of the middle east. Allowing this plundering is unforgivable.

Read between the lines of our biased television coverage, and the image of British and American troops is deeply unpleasant. Arrogant bullies, unaware and uncaring of what they allow to be destroyed. It does not take much imagination to bring to mind images of squaddies swapping bad taste jokes about the people they are supposedly helping. How can anyone maintain a pride in "our boys" after hearing the tape of a British officer threatening to shoot Baghdad shop keepers for daring to ask for help against looters? Of course, little blame can be attached to the soldiers themselves - they follow their orders. It is those issuing those orders and their political masters who are to blame. They have betrayed the Iraqi people with their callous disregard for history and economy, and have betrayed the soldiers under them by forcing them to allow the looting.

And if the deaths, injuries, and destruction in Iraq are not sufficient, there is the political situation. The American kingmakers have already let it be known that they will not allow a religious government in Iraq - the stated aim of at least a vocal minority in the south. They've also stated that Kurdish hopes for domination of the north as an independent state - in fact if not in name - will not be allowed either. Instead, the new government is starting to look awfully like the old one - free elections of an American approved leader drawn from the same people that provided Saddam Hussein.

Internationally it is no better. Iran and Syria have been directly threatened, most of Iraq's neighbours are, at the least, nervous and belligerent. The damage done to international institutions is unknown, but possibly severe, with America showing every sign of demanding either complete control or it will withdraw.

So that is the cost - plus a hefty $80 billion - what of the benefits? What did we get for our money, our global structures, Iraq's deaths and destruction? Not a lot. No weapons of mass destruction. Those fabled weapons that we were assured Iraq could use at forty-five minutes notice are conspicuous by their absence. No stability in the middle east, quite the opposite. No democracy in Iraq. Not when America holds the veto on who can even stand. Hussein is out of power, but missing. That's a plus. So is the number of people released from prison, freed from inhumane treatment.

But I will cheer regime change when I see what the change is to. At present, it seems unlikely that we will be able to tell the difference. One American appointed dictator looks a lot like another American appointed dictator to those he rules. And the human rights benefits have to be held against not just the cost of the invasion itself, but the lynching and looting, vengence and slaughter that have occured since the "liberation", and continue to occur now. Measured on that scale, the benefits of this invasion seem very small indeed.

Where does this leave our Prime Minister? The brave Mr Blair has led us into a war, which most of us opposed. A war that has provided few benefits at huge costs. And worse, he has done so for a lie. We went to war for weapons of mass destruction. Weapons that Iraq was ready and willing to use. The idea that Hussein had such a capability and did not use it is, frankly, laughable. Iraq has been invaded, its people killed, its culture, history, economy, infrastructure destroyed because the British Prime Minister lied. If he had any honour, Mr Blair would resign. But if he had any honour, we would not have gone to war at all.

Graham Robinson. 23rd April 2003.

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