I believe, fundamentally, that once the war in Iraq began, that the Stop the War Coalition should have disbanded itself. After all, the war had started.
The Iraq war has been the most polarising of recent times. All of a sudden, people who call themselves liberal have shifted to the right wing. Surely a war to bring democracy to a people ruled by the “Butcher of Baghdad” can only be positive? Surely all liberals would support a war of liberation. To which people say, “but it wasn’t about that, it was about oil.” I say to them:
“I don’t care about the reasons for war in Iraq. I don’t care if people thought it was illegal at the time [there’s strong evidence that it was legal after all]. I don’t care if a small number of people die in its execution, although I may shed a tear in private.
“I do care that there will be no more mass graves in Iraq, no more political terror, no more restrictions on peoples freedoms and beliefs. I care that women will be free to walk around freely, I care that a people has seized the chance to embrace democracy with enthusiasm and joy”
Yet many people, who before the war might have called themselves “left-wing,” now find themselves defending Saddam, and suggesting that we were wrong to invade another countries sovereignty. Madmen like George Galloway have been given a platform to spread their extreme views.
I’ve ranted for a bit, here’s the evidence. A letter from the Iraqi Communist party, posted by Norm:
“Our evaluation… is that in the prevailing circumstances and balance of forces in Iraq, there is no alternative process, other than the existing one, that offers a political prospect of restoring security and order in the country and puts it on the path of reconstruction and development.
“We have to note, with regret, that the Iraqi democratic forces have not received, in their difficult struggle, effective solidarity and support from international forces of the left.”