Airstrip One

Undecided - 22nd December 2002, 17.48

Public opinion in the United Kingdom is still undecided on the advantages and disadvantages of going to war with Iraq. Many distrust Blair's insistence on allying himself with the United States and are unpersuaded by the pronouncements of this administration on the necessity of sending troops to the Gulf. Neither do they view the anti-war campaign of CND with warmth, given their past record of appeasement to the Soviets and ideological defilement of the over-used term, 'peace'.

David Aaronovitch of the Independent articulated some of these doubts in his recent article. For warbloggers who damn any commentator by their source, they should note that Aaronovitch defended the bombings in Afghanistan on a debate on Channel 4 as a valid response to the atrocities committed on the 11th September 2001.

Aaronovitch describes three camps: those who think Saddam Hussein has no weapons of mass destruction; those who think Saddam has weapons of mass destruction; and the don't knows (Aaronovitch, plus a significant proportion of the British public). As yet, he has been unable to conclude which approach is more valid.

An interesting part of the article focuses upon the manner of intervention that could take place. This is the lynchpin which either encourages the Middle East to democratise or reinforces the current power of the prevailing dictatorships, monarchies and theocracies. The 'domino theory' of democracy has little evidence in its favour since the 'Arab street' tends to support Islamists as an alternative. Perhaps Iran with its pseudo forms of representation is the closest that these states can approximate western democracy.