I DOUBT that the splendid Condoleezza Rice will lose much sleep over the ticking off that tinpot local politician Warren Bradley plans to give her.
Cllr Bradley plans to unleash his criticism of the US role in Iraq when the Secretary of State visits Liverpool later this month.
He should save his breath…
Condoleezza has heard his sort of whining appeasement a million times or more.
It hasn’t so far undermined her determination to spread freedom and justice in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. The same can be said for her boss President George W Bush.
Apart from anything else, it would be rank bad manners for any civic leader such as Cllr Bradley to criticise a senior politician from our country’s principal ally when she honours the city with a visit.
The Lib-Dems nationally and locally have played a shameful role for the past three years in trying to undermine brave US and British forces fighting in Iraq.
So have lots of Labour people, trade unionists and all sorts of otherwise sensible British folk. So have most of the mainstream media.
The faint-hearted message is always … Iraq is descending into chaos and it is all our fault. Now that it's all gone pear-shaped we should run-away, run-away.
Those people who campaign for the troops to be brought back home don't seem to realise that when the going gets tough professional armies do not retreat and wail : “It’s all been a terrible mistake.”
Besides, the armed invasion of Iraq hasn’t been a mistake and nor has it yet gone pear-shaped. A cruel dictator (Saddam) has been toppled. The Iraqis have had free elections for the first time in their history.
I do not want to hear local politicians such as Warren Bradley parrot: “We feel it was wrong to go to war with Iraq and that there were no weapons of mass destruction.” Change the bloody record, mate.
Besides, forget weapons of mass destruction. A much more significant aim of the American forces in Iraq, as Condoleezza Rice has explained, is to establish the greatest gift that humanity enjoys – freedom – in a region of the world that has hardly known it.
That is a tough but noble long-term mission. Of course there will be bloodshed and suffering along the way, and the worst isn’t over yet.
But the British forces serving among the heat, dust and explosive booby traps in Iraq, do not need bleating and appeasement by local councilors making their job any more difficult than it is already.
It is not just small-time politicians such as Bradley who have jumped on the anti-war bandwagon. It is, to be honest, a worryingly large number of British folk who all trot out the same rubbish about Bush being a dangerous idiot and Tony Blair being his poodle.
Bush, as people in the know realise, is certainly no idiot. What US foreign policy is doing for the world right now is vitally important.
I am certainly glad that Tony Blair is supporting George Bush and that our troops are in Iraq.
Blair doesn’t have much longer in office, for various reasons, including the undoubted vindictiveness of British parliamentarians to their party leaders.
But if he is knifed soon, politically speaking, he will always have one massive achievement to his credit …
That is the swift support and solidarity he gave on behalf of our country to a traumatized USA after the September 11 terror atrocities.
Not to mention the military action he committed our country to in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
All through his Premiership, in military matters, his judgment has been spot on.
So Cllr Bradley can spout as much anti Iraq war rubbish as he likes.
He can tell Condie Rice what he thinks. I doubt she even knows who he is.
He can tell it to the Marines...
But I’m backing the war on terror.
And I am backing British troops in Iraq – because that is the right thing to do.
When your country is at war, you rally round. It's that simple.
- Post to:
del.icio.us
Digg
Newsvine
Nowpublic
Reddit
« Previous | Home | Next »
NH wrote...
I like the way you declare yourself a 'rebel against reality' and then write this!
No one with any intelligence believes the war in Iraq is about freedom and democracy. It might have played a small part in the decision, but the real reason we are there is to protect and further our interests in the region: particularly economic interests such as oil.
Now, I actually agree with some of what you say about the anti-war movement, especially the attitude "Iraq is descending into chaos and it is all our fault. Now that it's all gone pear-shaped we should run-away, run-away..."
The Iraqi people have lived under a cruel dictator and a sanctions regime that we imposed on them for over a decade. We did nothing when they rebelled against Saddam Hussein after the last Gulf War, preferring a weak state under our control than the likely alternative, which would probably have been a civil war which we would have inevitably been drawn in to.
Now, having made the decision to act decisively, that is exactly the outcome that has occured. It is our responsibility to address this, and attempt to create some kind of future for the long suffering people of Iraq.
What we really need is some clear thinking on the issue. We can do without articles like this, unquestionably cheerleading right wing American politicians who bomb poor countries and imprison their own citizens with no regard for civil liberties. We can also do without Cllr Bradley, making fools out of themselves.
STEVE REGAN writes: Thanks for your thoughtful comments, NH. I remain. however, convinced that it was morally right for the Americans and Coalition forces to invade Iraq. The lesson of history proves this paradox ... that, sometimes, if you want to achieve true peace and justice then you have to go to war for it, and battle it through to the end.
Posted by: NH | March 21, 2006 4:31 PM