Airstrip One

Some Heartless Comments about Bigley

Even I felt sick at the thought of the threatened beheading of Kenneth Bigley. I still however have to run a normal service, and point out an awful truth - that neither pro or anti war spokesmen will.

The problem for poor Mr Bigley is not that Americans or British are in Iraq, but that Kenneth Bigley is in Iraq. Kenneth Bigley took a risk by working in Iraq, we all take risks but this was a far bigger one. I hope he and those who've put themselves in a similar position are being suitably compensated by their employers.

The anti-war side do not want to point to Kenneth Bigley's responsibility for his situation because this would throw away the massive propaganda coup that the ordeal is providing - after all they can now say that Britons are more at threat because of Iraq. This is true, but the Bigley case is not an illustration of this - it is more dangerous for Westerners to go to lawless Muslim countries not for Westerners in general.

The propaganda boon is doubled with America's refusal to free the women prisoners despite Iraq's promise to do so (although they would be free if an American hostage would have been freed - Kenneth Bigley's relatives don't vote in American elections). So much for the Anglosphere. Or for that matter Iraqi sovereignty.

The pro-war side do not want to point out Kenneth Bigley's responsibility because there is a logical corollary here. That is that Westerners should not go to Iraq. Western forces have failed to provide law and order (I don't care about ex-Canadians driving around Fallujah last year - I'm talking now), but that is pretty much what the anti-war side predicted. The problem is more acute. Foreigners should not go to Iraq, and it is highly likely that they won't go. If there are no foreigners then there's no economy. That's not exactly a success.

Time to go home, time to go home.