[A-List] Scotland: left opposition to Iraq war

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Scotland's democratic voice must be heard
The Herald, 15 January 2003
Letters

IT seems increasingly likely that the lives of many innocent Iraqi civilians
are to be sacrificed in a war instigated in large part by the government of
the UK. The lives of many young men conscripted into the Iraqi armed forces
will also be ended. Relationships between the west and the Middle East will
be strained further, terrorism encouraged, and peace made more difficult to
achieve. Domestically, a war in Iraq would leave the Muslim community in
Britain facing even more hostility and mistrust, would take the lives of
many of our own armed forces (not least Scottish ones in their traditional
role in the vanguard of British imperial enterprise), and would waste
valuable resources which would better be used to invest in public services.

Meanwhile the benefits are difficult to identify. No-one with any genuine
understanding of the politics of the Middle East believes that Saddam
Hussein's regime has any links with al Qaeda, nor that it has or is anywhere
near developing weapons capable of threatening Europe or America, and its
neighbours are very much more worried about war than about Saddam.

Certainly the Iraqi regime is a vicious and repressive one with a shocking
record on human rights, but the prospects of a stable and sustainable Iraqi
regime emerging in the aftermath of a war are not good. Even if they were,
loss of life on the scale being considered is not justified by these ends.

Make no mistake, whether the methods of modern warfare have desensitised us
to the fact or not, a war in Iraq will be illegal under any reading of
international law. The war will not be pursued in self-defence and as a last
resort once all other means of resolution have been exhausted and the
methods of executing the war will make no attempt to differentiate between
combatants and non-combatants; innocent children - who make up 42% of the
Iraqi population - will be slaughtered indiscriminately.

All of this is taking place with virtually no democratic scrutiny. We are
inundated with propaganda from the British and American governments, some of
which has already been shown to be untrue. The efforts of the United Nations
to find a solution short of war are being undermined. And the views of
millions of Scottish people are being ignored. Despite opinion polls which
indicate that at least half the population oppose the war being proposed and
despite mass demonstrations which have brought tens of thousands of people
to the streets of Scotland,

the democratic bodies which are elected to represent the views of these
people are expressing virtually none of their concern.

The Scottish Left Review is not a campaigning organisation, nor does it have
an editorial line or policies. We exist in part to provide a space where
those on the left can challenge the views expressed by the right on issues
such as the war. However, the debate on the war has been controlled and
dominated by those intent on military action in Iraq to the extent that
there is little space left for that majority of Scots who oppose a war
outright or have very serious concerns they want addressed.

That is why we are writing this open letter to all of Scotland's MSPs. The
Scottish Parliament is the only democratic body which the people of Scotland
can hold accountable, and it is the only body with the legitimacy to speak
for the people of Scotland. That is why we have called for the Scottish
Parliament to hold a full debate on a war before it begins.

We know that many MSPs will be personally worried by events, but equally we
know that they will come under very great pressure not to oppose a war in
which such powerful interests are vested. That is precisely why it is so
important that they reflect the views of the interests that they were
elected to represent; the people of Scotland.

If we are thrown into a war without the fears of at least half of the
country being forcefully voiced by our elected representatives then our
democracy will have failed. Scotland is a small country and we do not
believe that our small voice alone can stop this war. But we cannot allow a
silence which others will call consensus for murder.

The Scottish Left Review Editorial Board: Aamer Anwar, Bill Bonnar (SSP),
Moira Craig (Liberal Democrats), Roseanna Cunningham, MSP (SNP), John Kay,
Isobel Lindsay, John McAllion, MSP (Labour), Robin McAlpine, Henry McCubbin
(former Labour MEP), Tom Nairn, Andrew Noble, Jimmy Reid, Tommy Sheppard
(former assistant general secretary of the Scottish Labour Party), Alex
Smith (former Labour MEP), Elaine Smith, MSP (Labour), Bob Thomson (former
treasurer of the Scottish Labour Party).