17 September 2004
editorial
In typical give-a-dog-a-bad-name-to-hang-it fashion, the BBC badgered UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to use the word "illegal" to describe the invasion of Iraq by US and British forces last year.
Those of us who saw the interview in which Mr. Annan used the word - which in our opinion is a perfectly legitimate word - were almost embarrassed with the way the BBC reporter was eager to get the word out of Mr. Annan's mouth. With a smile, Mr. Annan agreed to the prodding of the reporter and said yes.
Immediately, the same BBC and other Western media picked this word up and started directing all manner of aspersions and insinuations against the Secretary General. Indeed, one impertinent news reader on BBC World television even had the effrontery of describing it as "diplomatic suicide".
Come on, let us get serious.
The invasion of Iraq last year was one of the most unpopular acts of war in modern history. A good 80% or so of the countries of the world did not approve of it.
In fact even the countries that led the invasion had huge numbers of their people saying no to the war. Ask British Prime Minister Tony Blair. It was not a popular or moral war. It was a war of vindictiveness.
At the time the US and UK were pulverizing Iraq, it was a country already on its knees after a decade of UN sanctions. There was no evidence that the country had vast stocks of chemical, nuclear and biological weapons.
Its conventional forces were just in name after having been decimated in the first Gulf War. Added to this, Iraq was under constant surveillance through the "No fly zones" and other international restrictions.
As for Saddam Hussein, he had become the world's most contained dictator and whether he survived or not was a matter for his people, which did not call for an invasion from the most powerful military forces on planet Earth.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has never hidden his disagreement with the invaders and if he never used the word illegal to describe their action it was because he wanted to be as diplomatic as possible and now that the BBC has got its scoop by badgering him to use the stark word "illegal", let's move on and bring real peace to Iraq and the world.
The only way we can impart legality to this most unhelpful of wars is to work hard to go to the very bottom of the different permutations that bring about terrorism.
Sadly, for us, the invasion of Iraq has rather spawned many more terrorists - unless of course someone can convince us that the daily carnage in Iraq cannot be classified as terrorism.
Mr. Annan, we believe is representing the good conscience of the civilized world.
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