Iraq

This is my second blog and I had great difficulty in logging in, and have now changed my password. Not sure what I did wrong, but suddenly the system worked without, I fear, my doing anything!

The news this morning is about the British withdrawing from Iraq - by the end of 2007. It seems a bit premature to announce an event 10 months in the future. I recently spent 17 years in Moslem countries which of course means I am forever banned from contributing to any political debate or solution to the problem, as the British and American governments have experts who know all the answers! I jest!
There is a very considerable nasty taste in the mouth to the average observer trying to absorb the explanations from our politicians on what they are doingin Iraq. Talk about 'headless chickens' running around! My main concern is not that nations should not defend their interests but that they should get it right. The weasel words coming out now would do Machiavelli proud. The British are not 'cutting and running' of course, but one cannot help noticing there is an election in the UK in May. I see the Australians have been invited to put in 20,000 new troops into Iraq in support of their American allies, but in spite of saying 'in no circumstances should anybody interpret the British move as any kind of cut and run', they won't do much more to help. The Americans are in a very difficult position as with fading support from their Anglo-Saxon cousins in Britain and Australia - mainly political - there is no certainty that things in Iraq will not get worse. All that can be done then is declare a victory (as the last American helicopter leaves the Embassy roof) and go home. Unfortunately the history books are not going to be very kind.

I wonder sometimes why governments are so incapable these days! My suspicion is that the world is full of capable people with high levels of education and with years of personal experience overseas who would know what to do in many cases - from Islam to nuclear energy. These people have become disconnected from the system and cannot help. Unfortunately governments with national sovereignty are staffed by politicians who hardly ever live overseas for any length of time. Such people have no experience of a globalised world and one suspects from the expression on their faces (in Saudi Arabia, South Korea or Venezuela) that they often feel quite lost. Would they cut and run from such situations - who would ever dare to say so!