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These are regular editorials
produced alongside the corresponding issues on Nonviolent
News. |
[Return to related issue of Nonviolent
News.]
The recent recovery of Jean McConville's body
on a beach in Co Louth after thirty years will bring some
respite to a family who have been through the wringer many
times. It is also a reminder of the atrocities committed by
all sides in war; offering help to an injured British soldier
was a capital offence or so it proved in west Belfast at the
time for Jean McConville, who must have been a brave and very
human being.
However the revelations about the Troubles on
all sides will continue for decades to come. Prepare to be
further astonished as the years go by. Some sides, official
and unofficial, will continue to resist giving details of
their actions until it is dragged out of them. Unfortunately
the complexities of the situation in terms of the multi-faceted
war in Northern Ireland means that no one truth and reconciliation
process can deliver closure for everyone. The fact that non-state
forces were engaged, often in internecine and sectarian ways,
makes for difficulty in getting everyone to the confession
table. And even if the state backs some processes, its different
arms or parts resist focus on their particular story and sordid
details.
But there are many steps forward which can be
taken, such as those proposed by Healing Through Remembering.
The longest journey begins with a single step. In the case
of Northern Ireland, the journey to closure on the Troubles
will take decades and consist of many, many small steps which
together may represent such a journey. Some of these steps
will lead nowhere, but that may not be obvious until the next
corner is looked around.
May a thousand flowers blossom.
It is difficult to know which would be preferable;
that the heart of the British government lied through its
teeth about the need for war, or that they really did believe
their own propaganda about '45 minute' attacks on the west
and so on. Which is preferable, that they are proven to be
liars or that they are proven to be totally incompetent in
their assessment of risk and in their intelligence service?
Because it has to be one of these two options. Given Tony
Blair's performance at the Hutton enquiry into David Kelly's
death, it looks like the latter. Unless of course he is lying
because he would prefer to be seen as stupid rather than dishonest.
And fortunately or unfortunately it looks like Tony Blair
believes himself.
The situation in Iraq meanwhile is going from
bad to worse. Again the 'liberators' totally misread the situation
and what they could achieve. Even the United Nations workers
are now a target. The situation looks like it will go from
bad to worse before it has a chance of getting better. If
the USA and UK do want to do something about repairing Iraq's
infrastructure and getting the country on its feet again,
it is becoming more and more difficult because of the dangers
for foreigners working there. That of course is not to say
Iraqis could not do the job themselves but that is not sorted
either, and they would need money and resources to do the
job.
The USA and UK governments have dug themselves
into a deep hole. Getting out of that hole will be difficult
but it will also entail getting out of the country at the
first viable opportunity but not, we repeat not, abandoning
support for the reconstruction of Iraq. That would simply
be more neo-imperialist water under the bridge. The USA and
UK owe a debt to Iraq. But they are not going about paying
it in the right way. Total control should be handed over to
the United Nations, now, but the USA in its contempt for international
opinion, and the UN itself, is not going to do that. What
is currently on offer to the international community is a
subordinate role; even now, after some disastrous months in
Iraq, the USA and UK have not learnt a real lesson. As a result
US and UK soldiers, and the people of Iraq, will continue
to suffer.
And what must have been George Bush and
Tony Blair's prayer? 'Lord, let us find weapons of mass destruction
in Iraq'. There has been no response from the Almighty, nor
is there likely to be. And even if they did find something
now, after all we have been through, and all the lies told,
who would believe them unless there was overwhelming evidence?
And unfortunately a lot more water has passed under the bridges
of the Tigris and Euphrates since then. And the USA and UK
look increasingly to be up the creek without a paddle.
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