Too flimsy (From Penarth Times)

Too flimsy

WHEN is a dossier not a dossier? Perhaps when it is compiled by Tony Blair. Or if not compiled by Big Tony, at least inspired by him and his gang of opinion-formers, opinion-benders even, with loud off-stage noises from a trans-Atlantic direction becoming part of the heady but dangerous mixture. The beating of war drums may have a compelling and, in the end, irresistible rhetoric.

The matters dealt with in this 'dossier' are admittedly complex and intricate. Having browsed through a range of opinions in national newspapers, I am inclined to share the view of those expert commentators who considered the document too flimsy and insubstantial as a pretext for starting war with Iraq.

Though this method of posing the question is odd too, given the continued military action by the US and Britain against Iraq which has continued almost non-stop for the past four years or so. And with minimal media publicity.

And finally, in a judicial (quasi-judicial?) sense, would such a dossier constitute a satisfactory prosecution case in law - what the French would call a 'requisitoire' incidentally - to convict an individual or corporation, let alone a nation 'beyond reasonable doubt'?

Doubt can even be cast on the motivation of the chief prosecutors in their wishing to wage this particular war at this particular time.

Perhaps Britain has something to learn here from the foreign policy positions expressed by spokesmen of the French and German Governments respectively, even the admittedly provocative words used by the former German Justice Minister (Herta Dauble-Gmelin), who has been sacked as a result.

Is it not appropriate that a country most grievously tarnished for having waged aggressive war more than 50 years ago, should now be in the forefront of wishing to preserve world peace in a notoriously unstable area of the world.

Michael O'Neill Railway Terrace Penarth