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| July | 22 |
| 2004 |
Blair draws up plans to send troops to Sudan
Let's see if the Stoppers are planning to march against this, too. Unless their arguments about sovereignty are to be exposed as pure sophistry (which, of course, they were) then that's what they should be doing.
A year on, I still cannot get my head around the fact that so many apparently decent people took time out of their schedules to go on a march to do their best to ensure Saddam remained in power. I will never again be able to look a LibDem in the face without seeing 'I wish Saddam was still in power' in the white of their eyes.
MessageSpace
It is amazing, in light of the "Ethical Philosophy Selector" results below, that Pollard is unable to see the distinction between means, ends, and intent.
Mike, I think you're confusing "means, ends and intent" with "cause and effect".
Come again?
Stephen, it seems rather unfortunate timing for Blair to even contemplate sending troops etc when his hapless Defence Sec., Geoff Hoon, is busy gutting our armed forces, such as the navy, RAF Squadrons, etc.
It isn't any of our business. Iraq is a strategically vital country, which is why the project to remove Saddam and install a civilised form of government is so justified and important. Sudan is not. These half-baked interventions to temporarily stabilise failed states are functions of Blair's ridiculous "let's save the world and love each other, guys" approach to foreign policy. How many is it now? Kosovo, Sierra Leone, we're still in Bosnia...Pointless interventions in pointless places.
And, as Tom says, Blair is doing this while simultaneously shrinking the forces. When Bush extends America's military commitments, he ensures that concomitant extra resources are provided (more than concomitant, in fact - defence spending is already up 35% under Bush). Labour politicians just see defence as another cash cow to milk so that more money can be blown on nursery schools for inner city orphans or whatever.
This government makes me want to vomit, sometimes.
'This government makes me want to vomit, sometimes. '
Please, go ahead - and feel free to choke on it.
Excellent post, Janan.
No it isn't, Peter, unless you're talking about the last line which as a Conservative supporter you are rather duty bound to agree with. I regret that, as ever, it has to be us or the US playing policeman - it's really someone else's turn - but I'm reserving my vomit for that phrase, "it isn't any of our business."
This has been bubbling up for a very long time. The Arab-backed militias are systematically erasing all non-muslims from the Sudan. Sites such as www.rantburg.com have been all over the horrors going on in the Sudan for a very long time.
Why has it taken till now for the Grauniad to wring its hands?
Thank you, Peter.
James - I am not indifferent to the suffering in Sudan, I am just aware that foreign policy, more than politics in general, is the art of the possible. Finite means have to be allocated to only those causes which serve our interests. Our military personnel are not toy soldiers to be pushed around some global chessboard whenever some well-fed London liberal sees a human rights violation he doesn't like. If you want to buy a gun and intervene in Sudan as a private citizen, go ahead.