Airstrip One

With Iraq hit by new air strikes the U.S. May Have to "Go it Alone" on Iraq, says Richard Butler. If only. (UK planes were involved here).

Simon Jenkins, as always with foreign policy, has a great article on this:

Unlike the cunning Mr Cook, I would like to see Saddam go, and fast. Neither bombs nor sanctions, dumb or smart, will achieve this. Ostracism merely drives Saddam’s enemies into exile and supplies excuses for the impoverishment of his people. He will fall only when Iraq’s politics are unfrozen and its relations with the world normalised. This requires the political economy to be opened to external and internal pressure. This policy, once called constructive engagement, has often been pursued by the West, for instance towards the equally murderous rulers of Syria, Indonesia and Iran. It subverts an oligarchy with freer markets, freer movement of people, media access and a reinvigorated middle class. It also makes spying easier.

The Parliamentary statement refered to in the article is here and for those of you too lazy to scroll down the web log for Robin Cook's article, it's here.