Tony Blair, et al.

This speech by Tony Blair made the rounds of the Blogosphere last week, though I did not blog it. I see that there is an appendix of two letters from expatriate Iraqis, to which I don't think anybody else has drawn attention; the latter is hardly sympathetic towards America; yet....

.... Whatever America’s real intentions behind an attack, the reality on the ground is that many Iraqis, inside and outside Iraq support invasive action, because they are the ones who have to live with the realities of continuing as things are while people in the West wring their hands over the rights and wrongs of dropping bombs on Iraq, when in fact the US & the UK have been continuously dropping bombs on Iraq for the past 12 years.

Of course it would be ideal if an invasion could be undertaken, not by the Americans, but by, say, the Nelson Mandela International Peace Force. That's not on offer. The Iraqi people cannot wait until such a force materialises; they have been forced to take what they’re given. That such a force does not exist – cannot exist – in today’s world is a failing of the very people who do not want America to invade Iraq, yet are willing to let thousands of Iraqis to die in order to gain the higher moral ground. Do not continue to punish the Iraqi people because you are "unhappy" with the amount of power the world is at fault for allowing America to wield. Do not use the Iraqi people as a pawn in your game for moral superiority – one loses that right when one allows a monster like Saddam to rule for 30 years without so much as protesting against his rule....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 02/27/03 03:22:54 PM
Categorized as Political & Speeches and Suchlike.