Peace demos and democracy
Posted by Guy Beech,Tuesday, January 21, 2003
It is good to live in a country where there is true freedom of expression. That's one reason why so many people want to come and live here. However it is not good to be weak and if the UN was to be seen to back down, it would be finished as a viable organisation. The same goes for the US and the UK.
Also,I am sure that North Korea is watching the outcome of the Iraq situation with interest to see if Saddam Hussain can face down the free world.
In my view dictatorships are dangerous and do not reflect the will of their people. They must be opposed. If not, one day they'll coming knocking on your door and refusing you your freedoms.
Posted by Danny Thompson,
Tuesday, March 4, 2003
I can see what Guy is getting at, but it must be recognised that Blair and Bush's current policy against Iraq is underpinned by hypocrisy.
For years we, that is the British taxpayer, subsidised the sale of military hardware to Iraq through the Export Credit Guarantee Scheme. It was a dictatorship then, but the government didn't care.
Now we, the British taxpayer, continute to subsidise the sale of military hardware to many other dictatorships - for instance Bahrain. Just look at the invite list to British arms fairs organised by the MoD.
If our government took a principled stand against all dictatorships I might believe that what they are trying to do in Iraq was rooted in the true interests of democracy. At the moment our foreign policy is anything but!
Posted by Guy Beech,
Tuesday, March 4, 2003
That's a very good point Danny, although I see it as a reason to be principled in our stands with other countries as well as Iraq, not to back down from Saddam because our foreign policy requires more consistancy.