Seeker Blog

Thanks to Norm Geras for highlighting this Tony Parkinson essay for Australia’s "The Age". Parkinson slashes through the fog of the "west is to blame" chattering to remind us of the true history:

It didn’t take long for the chorus line of appeasers to strike up the same old tune. Barely had the bombers attacked the London Underground, and days before we knew the identities of the British-born Islamists responsible for this awful crime, there were those telling us that Western society had only itself to blame. Were it not for the Bush-Blair-Howard adventurism in Iraq, we would all be safe and sound and snug in bed…

Let’s examine this proposition from two perspectives: first, from a liberal internationalist viewpoint, which is to ask how much the world is prepared to tolerate before intervening against regimes that murder and maul their own and other people; second, from the strategic angle, the question of whether, and to what extent, the US-led war in Iraq, by inflaming jihadist sentiment, has contributed to a net deterioration in global security.

Saddam Hussein’s crimes against humanity have been extensively documented. But at moments like these, when a respected elder statesman implies that the survival of Saddam’s regime may have been the lesser of two evils, it is worth reminding ourselves what moral calculus is involved in that equation.

…

Believe it or not, there may be worse examples to come at the impending war crimes trials of Saddam and his henchmen. But, given this context, to even begin to countenance "containment" requires almost a wilful ignorance of all that happened in Saddam’s name.

Even if we set aside these compelling human rights arguments - as some seem ready to do - what of the realpolitik? Was ongoing containment of Saddam’s regime a viable option? If so, would it have allowed a clearer run for the campaign against al-Qaeda?

…

For the same reason, Iraq today represents a critical test of will.

A mindset that can target innocent tube travellers in London is the same mindset that can dispatch a suicide bomber to kill 24 Iraqi children as they accept sweets from US forces in a Baghdad neighbourhood . . . or, indeed, force a Kuwaiti woman to eat her own flesh.

Conceding strategic victories to this mindset will not protect a single innocent life, in Iraq, the West or elsewhere. More likely, it will embolden those behind these acts of savagery.

Definitely read the whole essay.