One thing that interests me about the Iraq War debate in America is how it is usually presented as a straight-forward left/right thing with 'liberals' "against" and 'conservatives' "for". The situation in the homeland of the major US ally is very different...
In the UK you can hear all the usual far left suspects decrying the war using the usual rhetoric of stopping 'American Imperialism'. Now, while I agree that it is deeply unfair to say that all those who oppose(d) the war, were supporters of Saddam Hussein - a cheap rhetorical blow probably flowing from a bad conscience and a weak argument - there are those on the far left who
were Hussein-supporters. For those who believe that the US is currently fulfilling its Manifest Destiny to bring western civilisation to the more benighted parts of the globe, such ultra-leftists are a gift, allowing the whole anti-war movement to be characterised as
| sympathetic to mass murderers, to Jew-haters, and to fascists |
In reality the anti-war movement in the UK has many sane voices and - this is the thing that will surprise most Americans - they are mostly coming from the ranks of Britain's conservatives. Although the British Conservative Party backed Tony Blair over Iraq, they did so with insufficient enthusiasm - to the degree that, while Blair is welcome to share Colgate with George W. at any time, the then-leader of the British Tories Michael Howard was informed that he was
persona non grata at the Bush White House.
The Conservative Party leadership candidate Ken Clarke was another vocal critic of the war - not because of any love for Hussein, or any anti-American animus (on the contrary these anti-war tories are all committed atlanticists with decades of track record as friends of America), but because of a belief that the U.S's stated goal is unachievable.
Max Hastings, the conservative editor and columnist is another voice saying the same thing. He has this to say about the events unfolding in Iraq:
"Most of my US military acquaintances opposed the invasion. They did not doubt the coalition's ability to defeat Saddam's army swiftly and topple his regime. It was uncertainty about what would follow that rang warning bells. They identified from the outset precisely the difficulties that Messrs Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz contemptuously dismissed".
This should not come as such a surprise. A key component of conservative ideology is a pessimistic scepticism about the benefits of political adventurism, no matter how desirable the potential outcome ('trying to make things better, you will only make them worse'). And just as Americans misuse the fine word 'liberal' to make it a synonym for radicals, socialists and ultra-leftists, it is arguable that they are equally confused by the word 'conservative' - an ideology that is in fact largely alien to its post-revolutionary war settlement - which they seem to use as a synonym for right-wing radical.
