So, over a year after the coallitions "victory" in Iraq does anybody believe that a) the people of Iraq are better off and b) the World is a safer place?
I'm happy to say I was one of the 1 millon people who went to London to march against this war.
Whilst many of us didn't foresee the exact type of quagmire we'd end up in none of this is a suprise to us.
So what do we know now we didn't know then?
-Well there were no weapons of mass destruction (I think the UN weapons investigators tried to tell us that).
-Iraq was not involved in sponsoring Al Qieeda - In fact Osama Bin Laden is on record asking for assistance from the US to remove Sadam a few years back. They hated him - Sadam was originally a christian who converted to Islam, he ruled a middle east state but didn't enforce Islamic law.
-When you remove a dictator you get a power vacuum.
-Extremists from everywhere are willing to queue up to get into Iraq so they can have a go at US soldiers.
-Britain is now possibly the 3rd most popular terrorist target in the World.
-If you gave most of the Iraqis who died the choice of being alive and having Sadam in charge they would probably choose that.
I'm with you Chris, it's a big mess, worse than I expected, of course I'm naive, always have been. Thank goodness I moved away form home, at least that's helped me to deal with life better. I really don't understand those in power, I have no trust in any goverment.
I heard on the radio this morning that the first reliable civilian death toll has been calculated for Iraq - 100,000 and apparently that's a conservative estimate:
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=611455§ion=news
Apparently most were caused by US air strikes and many of the fatalities were women and children.
This would be a good year even for Sadam!
It's hardly surprising that so many civilians are killed when the Americans use warplanes and helicopter gunships to attack residential areas. No wonder the yanks don't want to count the Iraqi dead - they don't want us to know the truth about the disaster this war has been.
This tactic works really nicely for the Israeli's against the Palestinians dosent it...!!? Nice to know that 'our boys' are taking tips from the aggressors in one of the Middle East's longest running messy quagmires.
I see in a recent (17th Jan) written question Julia Goldsworthy MP (Falmouth & Camborne, Liberal Democrat) asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions her Department has had with the Iraqi Government on the observation of the human rights of women in Iraq.
Kim Howells (Minister of State (Middle East), Foreign & Commonwealth Office) replied by saying that officials from the UK embassy in Baghdad, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and my right hon. Friend the Member for the Cynon Valley (Ann Clwyd), as Special Envoy to the Prime Minister for Human Rights in Iraq, regularly raise women's rights with the Iraqi Government at all levels.
Howells in his written reply wrote, "Iraqi parliamentarians, women's rights activists and women's groups have told us about problems with women's access to employment and education, threats and assassinations of women professionals, the enforced wearing of the veil and other socially conservative forms of dress, and gender based violence including honour killings and female genital mutilation.
We are concerned about these issues and the impact of continued violence on all Iraqis......"
It has been argued that Iraqi women now are worse off than they were under Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime where, for decades, the freedoms and rights enjoyed by Iraqi women were the envy of women in most other countries of the Middle East. It seems Iraqi women could inherit land and property, had equal rights to divorce and custody of their children, were protected from domestic violence within the marriage. While Iraqi women, like all Iraqis, certainly suffered from the political repression and lack of freedom, the secular (if brutal) Baathist regime protected women from the religious extremism that denies freedom to a majority of women in the Arab world. It's ironic in a way that Julia Goldsworthy had to ask the question "post invasion".
Child abuse cases to be re-opened
Three child abuse cases Cornwall are to be re-examined in the wake of the Baby P case in Haringey.
Farmhouse murder case man freed
A 21-year-old man cleared of murdering a woman in her Cornish farmhouse walks free from court.
Drive clamp-down catches hundreds
More than 1,700 motorists are caught in an undercover police campaign against dangerous driving.
Firm's loss a 'body blow' to town
The closure of a Cornish firm in Bodmin, with the loss of 260 jobs, is a "body blow" says the town's mayor.
Business confidence hits new low
Business confidence in the South West falls to the lowest in England and Wales, according to survey.
Extra planes for stranded Britons
Cornish photgrapher amongst UK tourists stranded in Thailand hoping extra flights will help him return home.
Icy conditions causing accidents
Police warn drivers to beware as icy road conditions cause a number of crashes involving multiple vehicles.
Stranded dolphins returned to sea
Vets, volunteers and marine experts battle for hours to rescue a dolphin and her calf stranded in Cornwall.
