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COMMENT: They Opted To Bomb, It Had Better Work
Tuesday, October 9, 2001
By Simon Jenkins / The Times

Now that sophistication has lost out in Washington, Britain must toe the line like an obedient junior. Indeed to prove its loyalty, it must bomb first. So much for influence.

Location -- Source
So it must be done the old way after all.

The faces of Britain's rulers on Monday night said it all. They had lost the argument. Sitting in Parliament they looked haggard and wretched. Tony Blair thumped on yet again about Osama bin Laden being a fiend and a monster. Everyone chanted that bombing should be "proportionate, measured, targeted", knowing that this was beyond their control. Clare Short's face was a picture of misery. She must now excuse the civilian deaths, the laying of cluster mines, the airborne terror for which she is responsible as a War Cabinet member. How skin-deep is humanity when the guns begin to fire. Whenever Americans start bombing, Britons dive under a blanket of Churchillian waffle.

Britain is not at war at present, any more than it was at war during the IRA bombing of London or after bin Laden's previous attack on New York's World Trade Centre. To describe what should be a relentless campaign against criminal terror as war is metaphor abuse. By hurling resources and media attention at some distant theatre, it deflects effort from the domestic front. It also insults those who fought and died in real wars, when territory was threatened and states were at risk.
(More: Times Newspapers Ltd. News Source)
Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd.

Dan