Republican News · Thursday 31 January 2002

This unjust war

BY SINN FÉIN CHAIR MITCHEL McLAUGHLIN

By the time you read this article, the invasion of Iraq may already have begun.

President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have attempted unsuccessfully to portray their war on Iraq as some kind of humanitarian adventure. You can be sure the images that will be shown around the western world, with its so-called free press, will not be of the suffering that will be inflicted on the innocent civilian population of Iraq.

There will be no pictures of the children suffering from lack of medical attention - caused through the draconian sanctions imposed by the UN - following the last attempt at 'Regime change' by George Bush Senior.

There will be no pictures of burnt and mutilated bodies of innocent men, women and children, killed in the name of democracy.

No, the pictures that you will see will be of the latest precision targeting by the 'smart bombs' on Iraq's factories that produced 'weapons of mass destruction' - those weapons of mass destruction that all of the British and American Intelligence networks could not direct the UN weapons inspectors to uncover. But don't worry - the 'smart bombs' will find them.

d what of the tens of thousands of civilians - men, women and children - who live and work in close proximity to these factories? Well, they will be described in sanitised media reports as having been caught up in 'collateral damage' - an unavoidable consequence of war. Britain and America will justify the tens of thousands killed, the hundreds of thousands injured and the millions displaced as being for their own good.

When will superpowers - and those that hanker after times when they were superpowers - realise that they will not prevent or resolve conflict by obliterating thousands of civilians in an attempt to punish their leaders. It is time that the leaders of the Western World asked themselves why they are so despised by smaller and less developed nations.

If the US and Britain would direct one tenth of the resources into developing the infrastructures of these countries instead of selling them 'weapons of mass destruction' at times when they are not a perceived threat, then just maybe they could build friendly rather than adversarial relations with them. Remember, it isn't the rebels that create the conflicts throughout the world, but unresolved conflicts that create the rebels.

But Bush and Blair are not the only ones to blame for pursuing a war with Iraq. Many other nations failed to use their influence to prevent it, or to suggest other means that would undermine Saddam's authority, thereby achieving a 'regime change' through peaceful means.

If the UN was able, through resolutions, to impose weapons inspectors on Iraq, then through UN resolutions it should have been possible to impose other UN Agencies capable of distributing humanitarian aid effectively to the people in need. It should have been able to send in Development Agencies that could have built the infrastructure and the confidence in the Iraqi people that would have undermined the brutal grip that Saddam had on his people. The financial cost would have been infinitesimal in comparison to the cost of war. The human cost would have been avoided.

The Irish government is not immune to criticism for its actions in the preparation for this war. There are growing concerns that the government is intent on abandoning neutrality by continuing to assist the US military en-route to the Gulf, against the expressed wishes of the people.

Not for the first time, Bertie Ahern is treating the elected representatives and people of Ireland with disdain. His failure to consult with the Dáil and to clearly answer direct questions on how he intends to respond to the US/British war on Iraq is a disgrace. The government should issue a cease and desist order on the use of Shannon Airport by the US military.

We in Sinn Féin will continue to play our part in the anti-war effort. We have now put our 32-county membership on alert, and will be fully mobilising in support of the planned protest action throughout this island.