One can be sure that Britain has a finer grasp than many others of all the various winds that blow to serve motives both fair and foul. It was Blair's constancy in the midst of the natural anxiety of the public which convinced me of the necessity of this course.
In my mind, there is no doubt that there was some opportunism involved in the American desire to install a regime friendly to their economic interests rather than allow France and Iraq, and then others...to slowly develop an economic leverage which would eventually castrate American ambitions and American control. That, however, is part and parcel of the need to defend against interests so hostile that to do nothing would be an act of National Suicide.
The value of hindsight is the value of counting bodies, and the writing of best selling history books. The value of foresight is the continuance of life and liberty...and that oft-ignored pursuit.
Although, it was to be hoped that the Free World (it may sound trite, but there is such a thing) would muster a more formidable unanimity in favor of a common, necessary, and inevitable initiative; unfortunately, the confliction of diverse economic interests and strivings for power...effectively sabotaged the goal.
Is the American action connected to issues of economics and power as well as to the defense against terrorism? Of course. But power is the goal of all life: the power to breathe, the power to act, the power to grow, the power to love, and the power to survive. At some point in life--at those cusps of unresolvable conflict--the question is a simple one: Whose side are you on?
Some would answer: "the side of Truth and Justice". As to which side THAT is...one need only turn the pages of history for 5000 years of evidence. |
