George Monbiot, Tues Nov 25 in a thoughtful and cogent criticism of David Aaronovitch's position
>>> in debating the war, those of us who opposed it find ourselves drawn into this fairytale. We are obliged to argue about the relative moral merits of leaving Saddam in place or deposing him, while we know, though we are seldom brave enough to say it, that the moral issue is a distraction. The genius of the hawks has been to oblige us to accept a fiction as the reference point for debate. <<< http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1092487,00.html My only reservation is that after all the realpolitik, Bush (and Blair) still have to appeal to some sort of higher ideology because they are trying not just to maintain dominance in a traditional balance of power: the logic is for integrated global empire. And state bodies, whether national or global need both bodies of armed men able to act at the direction of the ruling classes, but also an ideology to appear to stand above classes, and minimise the cost of unnecessary frequent use of overt force. Chris Burford London
