I Can't Face 5 More Years Of Shock And Awe

Mar 23 2008 Elaine C. Smith

EVEN my worst fears didn't have the war in Iraq still going on after five years.

But now I'm concerned that US troops will have to be there for the next five years.

Much as we would all like our troops home, leaving a country in the midst of a sectarian war would be more punishment for the Iraqi people.

I didn't think our sons and daughters would still be there now.

I thought the predictions of 10 years of fighting were just doom and gloom but I now have to hold my hands up and apologise.

I only wish others would apologise too. Watching these politicians who went like sheep through the lobbies in Westminster to vote for the war based on a lie makes me sick.

When I think of the lives that have been lost - Iraqis, US troops and our own soldiers - it makes me physically ill to hear politicians twist the reasons for going to war.

Suddenly we have done a great thing by toppling Saddam. Eh? Can I just point out that wasn't the reason that we went in there - well, not the one we were told about.

According to the United Nations, if a war is not legal it is a crime of aggression and we as a country - and our Government - are guilty of that crime.

But the guilt we all share is not just about the illegality of the war.

The guilt is over the deaths of thousands of people who should be living a decent life like the rest of us. The politicians should hold their hands up and say they got it wrong - only then would they display a mere fraction of the bravery our troops show every day.

They are hiding behind the notion that if they admit they were wrong, they would undermine the troops serving out there.

They wouldn't undermine their jobs any more than they have done already by sending them into an illegal war in the first place.

Yes, Saddam is gone and I will shed no tears over that but we should remember this tyrant was turning on his own people when we were arming him to the teeth.