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To: Enigma who wrote (24781)	12/22/1998 10:47:00 AM
From: Enigma	Respond to of 116972

" A poodle playing at Churchill" Tony Blair's first real test has proved to be an affront to history, says Alex Salmond Force normally follows after diplomacy has failed. But not with this Government. Now that force has failed, ministers are resorting to desperate diplomacy. Despite Robin Cook's assertion yesterday morning that he would be spending "most of the day" on the phone to foreign ministers, building the international consensus against Iraq, it is patently clear to the rest of the world that any hopes of consensus have been fatally damaged by the US-UK bombing raids of the past week. What started in 1991 with a successful action to remove the Iraqi invasion force from Kuwait - an action that gained support from the widest possible coalition of nations from the Muslim world, from Europe and the Americas and from the former communist states - has now concluded. But not, as it should have, with the removal of Saddam Hussein himself. Instead, Saddam is still firmly rooted in power, his suffering people are further alienated from Western powers that appear to bomb them without warning, and seem to keep them on short rations of medical supplies and foodstuffs. International weapons inspections, the means by which Saddam has been restrained for years, have been terminated, probabably for ever. And there is now no clear or obvious way of freeing Iraq from its cycle of decline. From the moment that the Prime Minister announced the bombing raids last Wednesday night, the Scottish National Party has expressed extreme concern at the policy being pursued. It seemed then, and seems more than ever now, that the aims of the policy were unclear and the means of achieving even those aims were unrealistic. The SNP position has been vindicated as the dust of bombing has cleared. Our forces performed the task they were set with the discipline and professionalism we have come to expect. The flight crews from my colleague Margaret Ewing's constituency lived up to the highest standards of the Services. But the serious questions over whether they should have been asked to undertake that role have not gone away. The world community is even more uncertain now than it was last week regarding exactly what Saddam Hussein has in his arsenals. There is, moreover, no way that we can find out in short order. Iraq has expressed its total refusal to accept any more Unscom missions. The unity of purpose that still existed on UN action against Iraq has disappeared in the Baghdad dust. There is - at best - studied silence from our traditional allies. And from farther afield there is outright hostility. The Foreign Secretary may be spending his Christmas week on the phone, but he will be getting a cloth ear from a good many of his fellow foreign ministers. Many overseas, and not a few in this country, will see Blair as Clinton's poodle. The Prime Minister seems willing to acquiesce in any action when called upon to do so. As worrying, however, as the damage to Mr Blair's reputation and British standing is what this crisis tells us about our Prime Minister. In his first real test, he has been found to be easily led. He has been culpably reluctant to talk to Europe or consult within the UN, preferring instead the intimacy of a chat on a hotline across the Atlantic. He has also taken too easily to the glib excuse that all actions have their casualties, without realising the moral imperative that demands that all actions be judged not just by their objective, but also by their motivation. With no clear achievable aim and objective, the killing of innocent civilians is not just collateral damage - it is plain wrong. It is wrong at any time of the year, let alone at Ramadan or Christmas. Finally, Blair's addiction to image and spin may have served him in the rough and tumble of campaigns but it is rapidly becoming a Prime Ministerial liability. To allow himself to be presented in the "bunker" in London (the Churchillian reference was intended, I am sure) was not only a mistake, it was an affront to history and to decency. Churchill was in his bunker because he ran the hourly risk of death from bombing in the Blitz. It was not Mr Blair that was at risk last week, but those upon whom his bombs rained down, thousands of miles away. It is said that within the first two years of any premiership, there comes a testing moment which will define the period of office. For Margaret Thatcher it was the Falklands war, for Major it was Black Wednesday. Iraq is the defining incident for Blair. Far from applying the healing touch of diplomacy or strengthening the world community, Blair has instead fallen prey to the lure of machismo, gun-toting with his friend across the pond. In so doing he has damaged the UK and its reputation, harmed the rule of law, undermined the work of the UN and Unscom, alienated the Muslim world and given fresh cause for Europe to doubt the willingness of Britain to work in partnership on our continent. That is a heavy catalogue of failures to grow out of one action. And balanced against it, in the scales of humanity, he has delivered none of the benefits he claimed to justify this adventure. The author is the leader of the Scottish National Party. comment@the-times.co.uk Next page: Leading article - Fare's fare Arts (Mon - Fri) \| Books (Sat) (Thu) \| British News \| Business \| Court page \| Features (Mon - Fri) \| Go (Sat) \| Metro (Sat) \| Obituaries \| Interface (Wed) \| Opinion \| Sport \| Travel (Sat) (Thu) \| Vision (Sat) \| Weather \| Weekend (Sat) \| Weekend Money (Sat) \| World News <Picture><Picture: Down><Picture> <Picture: Subscribe to the paper> <Picture: Contact Us> <Picture> <Picture> <Picture> World: UN arms inspector faces the bombing backlash Next page: Leading article - Fare's fare <Picture: Line>Copyright 1998 Times Newspapers Ltd. This service is provided on Times Newspapers' standard terms and conditions. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material from The Times, visit the Syndication website. <Picture><Picture: Up><Picture>