March 17, 2003

This impassioned op-ed by Kurdistan

This impassioned op-ed by Kurdistan Prime Minister Barham Salih, pleading to the British Left to support the invasion of Iraq should be required reading:

Regrettably, many are denouncing a war that would liberate Iraq. Like those who shunned us in the Eighties, some of our former friends find the martyrdom of the Iraqi people to be an irritant. They avert their eyes from the grisly truth of our suffering, while claiming concern at the human cost of war.

The cost to Iraqis of sparing the Baathist dictatorship is rarely calculated. Iraqis are overlooked by an anti-Americanism that does not understand why we need military action to break our shackles. Some call for civil disobedience to impede the bid to free Iraq. In Iraq, civil disobedience is a death sentence....

This regime needs to be brought to account for genocide.

At this critical moment, you must not fail the twin tests of history and morality. On 2 September, 1939, Neville Chamberlain advocated to a shocked House of Commons yet more appeasement, despite the evidence of Nazi aggression. As Arthur Greenwood stood up to respond for the Labour Party, Leo Amery, a Conservative, cried out: 'Speak for England!' Today it is Tony Blair who speaks for England, for the fundamental values of the Left and, most honourably, for enslaved Iraqis.


This via Harry's Place, which has been brimming with sharp coverage of the few who dissent from the moral obtuseness of the British Left when it comes to Iraq. I'm afraid I don't have the patience to wade through much of the Red Pepper material, but Harry does, and he turns up some interesting stuff. This post is merely one example of many.


Finally, Harry's right: the lack of coverage of the pro-war protests by Iraqi exiles in London "says it all."

He quotes this, a mere footnote at the bottom of a round-up of "anti-war" marches and so-forth:

Hundreds of people from Britain's Iraqi community were today protesting outside the Houses of Parliament in support of an attack on Iraq, and a petition was being delivered to the French embassy in central London to register opposition to the stance of the French president, Jacquest Chirac.

The protest coincides with the 15th anniversary of the Halabja massacre, where 5,000 Kurds were killed after the Iraqi government ordered a chemical weapons attack.


Says Harry: "it really isn't so difficult to work out which side to be on is it?"

Posted by Dr. Frank at March 17, 2003 07:12 AM | TrackBack