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Lasting peace for Iraq seems less and less likely

Napoleon always led his army to battle. So too did Cromwell and dozens more famous leaders of the past, who had the honest conviction that their actions were justified. If Tony Blair and George Bush, such loving allies, were asked or expected to do likewise in the case of Iraq, I doubt if there would be a war today and the thousands of innocent lives that are being sacrificed daily would have been saved.  Instead, we have one dictator chasing the other and, even with some success, still leaving the situation in the end far worse than it was at the outset.

Before taking such drastic action, Mr Bush should have been aware of and reflected back on the Vietnam experience when thousands of young Americans were indiscriminately drafted into a futile war and inevitable death. The same is happening in Iraq, an ongoing war with no apparent remedy in sight.
Saddam Hussein is now overthrown and sentenced to death. Nevertheless, the failure of Bush and his republican party in the midterm elections must have spelled out the message loud and clear.

So too is the current hypocrisy of Tony Blair and his government plain for all to see. In opposing the death sentence and the hanging of Saddam Hussein, they are casting a blind eye on the unnecessary killing of over 50,000 Iraqis, mostly civilians, for whom they are directly or indirectly involved.

And to add insult to misery, it looks as though the umbilical cord between Bush and Blair has now been severed. The British prime minister has resorted to setting up a new partnership between Iran and Syria, with prospects of dialogue over the future of Iraq. A deal conditional that these countries cease support of terrorism in Iraq and dismiss their nuclear aspirations – as well as also promising them, in return, that military action against Iran would be ruled out.

An obvious toe in the rear for Bush as he sees out his final years of office, it prompts the question: where now lies a lasting solution for permanent peace in Iraq?

James A Gleeson
Thurles
Co Tipperary