The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
Views expressed in this archived message are those of the author, not of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
[Main archive index/search] [List information] [Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq Homepage]
This is the text that I have faxed out to MPs:
I had not believed myself capable of the disgust that I now feel for
Britain's complicity in this short-sighted adventure against Iraq. Your
policy disturbs me for at least three reasons:
1. It disregards its own concerns about `weapons of mass destruction'. In
1995 the Aum Shinrikyo sect showed that little more than a motive was
required to use such weapons. How will undertaking actions which appear to
much of the world as representing an anti-Arab bias and scant respect for
international law not provide such a motive?
2. It undermines international institutions, particularly the United
Nations. Russia now threatens not to ratify the START-2; Kofi Annan called
yesterday a sad day for the UN and the world. Circumventing the Security
Council, established precisely to address these situations, on the grounds
of a unilateral appeal to a broader interest opposes both the letter and
the spirit of the UN. It `degrades' our ability to condemn any nation's
unilateral use of force, including Iraq's in its invasion of Kuwait. It is
especially discouraging to see Britain act in this fashion after signs
that it had been attempting to steer the US Iraq policy towards support
for international institutions (e.g. supporting a trial of Hussein in the
International Criminal Court rather than an ad hoc court, the US
preference).
3. It enhances the risk of starvation among the Iraqi population. Since
Halliday's resignation it has been common knowledge that the Food-for-Oil
programme has not removed the burden borne by the Iraqi people for the
past eight years (you know the numbers: between half a million and one and
a half million extra dead children). For all its deficiencies, though, the
FFO does stand between Iraqis and starvation. Your latest action has
already endangered the functioning of this programme: Lloyd's Register has
removed its inspectors from most border points; will they return?
I can see none of the questions that stopped the bombing in February any
better answered today. This short sighted policy, I fear, will only lead
to further polarisation and instability in the region.
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a discussion list run by Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
To be removed/added, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk, NOT the
whole list. Archived at http://linux.clare.cam.ac.uk/~saw27/casi/discuss.html