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Blair's Iraq Figleaf non-existant

With the Weapons of Mass Destruction having been found to be non-existant some time ago Tony Blair has used the argument that it was good to introduce democracy and get rid of Saddam Hussain.

The fact is, however, that it was not necessary to invade Iraq to achieve this. What people have now forgotten is that in the Kurdish north there was a no-fly zone which enabled the Kurds to operate independently of the Ba'th government. There was also a no-fly zone in the south. That, however, had rules of engagement that meant that heavy weaponry could be used on any rebellion, but no action would be taken.

Had the rules of Engagement been changed in the southern no-fly zone then it would have been possible for the south to rebel against the Ba'th. In fact it was the non intervention policy that caused the south to be recontrolled after the first gulf war.

People on the ground in the Middle East could not understand why the USA would not assist the Iraqis to take control of Iraq.

The reason the UK and USA did not want to do this (which was the SCIRI proposal) was concern that the end result would be a federal Iraq.

As usual Blair creates a false dichotomy when there were a lot of possible choices many of which would have fitted comfortably within international law.

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