Time For Action : The West Talks Tough (Peace Movement Chapter 1)

Peace Movement (Chapter 1) copyright 2008 Kurt Rellians

Time For Action :The West Talks Tough

(An alternative recent/current history of the Iraq crisis as it might have affected the world. This is not intended to be accurate history. None of the politicians mentioned are actual (real) political figures, except perhaps the Dictator)

The American leader was a big man. He spoke tough and the states which felt his anger knew they courted potential military intervention from this self styled ‘policeman of the world’. He came to Europe one summer courting the backing of European nations in his new aggressive policy of turning up the pressure against certain international leaders or regimes which defied western values of democracy and the rule of law. In his sights this time was a major Arab country in the Middle East, which was very oil rich, but had squandered this wealth in the past on fighting a couple of wars against two of its neighbours, and at least a couple of internal wars against his own people. In the second of the two foreign wars western and Arab allies had acted militarily to throw the dictator back out of the invaded country. Most respectable nations at that time had agreed to the removal of the Dictator from the invaded nation; not so many of them were now willing to join the ‘world’s policeman’ in his new venture. They did not appreciate the Dictator’s powerful and inflammatory rhetoric, his promises to return the middle east to justice, and to remove the foreigner and the corrupt politicians from power and influence. They feared he would stir up infidel Israel and cause more bloodbaths and defeats. But most hoped his rhetoric was bluster and hot air only, designed to upset his enemies and cause sufficient fear to raise the price of oil and make more easy money. He had been defeated once before. Surely that was enough to teach him not to put his words into action. He and his nation were supposed to be weak now, unable to attack their neighbours, or to amass great weapons of mass destruction or chemical gases to kill those who stood in his way, whether civilian or soldier. The United Nations were assessing him, making sure he built no big weapons, or produced those nasty chemicals. Under the watchful eye of the United Nations, the representatives of the whole world, surely they would all be safe from the reawakening of the Arab ‘wolf’.

The Prime Minister wanted to support the Americans desperately. He saw it as a strategical necessity for foreign policy. If the Dictator’s refusal to let the weapons inspectors do their job at will was allowed to pass, then who was to say the regime was not developing a nuclear capability or a long range missiles technology, and would not rearm in contravention of the treaties the victorious international alliance of 1991 had forced upon the cowed regime. The games with inspectors would go on for years probably if this ‘line in the sand’ was ignored, as the French and Russians, and many other nations, wanted them to. For 12 years the games had gone on and the Prime Minister could not be at all sure that this pariah state was not developing strategically dangerous weapons. Only the Americans seemed to have seen the importance of a strong signal to halt this danger. There were no effective sanctions to take which had not been taken before, except to make a clear line in the sand and to be fully prepared to take military action if the regime refused to take the threats seriously. With the ‘moderate’ words of the French and Russians and others, including opponents on the issue in his own party and amongst, most notably, the Liberal Democrats, a very woolly picture was being given to the Dictator’s regime. Who could blame them, or him, as by all accounts one man was the crucial decision maker in Iraq, for deciding that the West (or the International Community) was very divided on the issue and would be very unlikely to ever seriously punish Iraq for any breaches in the obligations of 1991 or to take any military action against them.

The Prime Minister was keen to deal with the loose cannon Dictator in Iraq. He rang the American President to pledge his support, and the support of his nation if the Dictator did not provide genuine free movement for the international weapons inspectors. “There should be no more games,” said the Prime Minister. “We’ve been playing games for the last few years and we still can’t trust him and his government. He probably will never give them free access so we can never be satisfied he is not hiding dangerous weapons, unless we put some real pressure on him.”
“I agree,” said the President. “The time has come to draw a line in the sand, and tell him if his government does not conform to our demands by a certain date we will dismantle his regime.”

(To be continued in :- Anthony, The ‘Man Of Peace’ Peace Movement Ch.2 )