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January 20, 2006
Who's next?
This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
Winston Churchill said those words in 1942. And with results in from Iraq's elections, many might consider that we have reached the beggining of the end; that the War on Terror will cool off.
Personally I don't believe it. I suspect that things are going to get a lot worse for a lot longer before we see any improvement in World peace. And local Labour MP (Rotherham) and former Foreign Office Minister (2001-2005), Dennis MacShane agrees.
In an article in this week's Independent, MacShane writes:
There is something of 1914 in the air. The Greys and Poincarés fret as the wheels of conflict trundle inexorably forward. The Iran crisis brings together every world problem: nuclear weapons in the hands of theo-cons who want to exterminate Jews; the economic future of China; and, above all, the inability of a world system or its most powerful state to impose a solution.
At some point, the people in power will complete their cost-benefit analysis and decide that a pre-emptive strike on Iran is the only way forward. But conflict isn't the solution, as Iraq has proved. The only solution has to be by peaceful means, yet as long as Bush and Rice remain visionless, the almost inexorable drift to war will continue.
Now would be an excellent time for the U.K. to exert what influence it might have over U.S. foreign policy. Unfortunately though, there is no one in a position of authority within the government capable of acting in such a moderating manner. Blair and Straw are both irrevocably tarnished by their aquiesence and complicity in the invading of Iraq. And Robin Cook, who had the vision to maintain relations with North Korea and thus retain some influence over that state, is dead.
We failed to stop the invasion of Iraq. If we are to leave any sort of future for our children, we must not fail when, almost inevitably, the U.S. and U.K. decide to move on Iran. War was avoidable in 1914, but a lack of vision and/or willingness to act other than in a habitual manner result in a conflict that destroyed millions of lives. The same malaise infects our foreign policy today.
How many lives this time?
Posted by Clive on January 20, 2006 8:44 PM in the category Terror