What a nice, little war

On the third anniversary of the Iraq invasion, the Australian’s resident imperialist-in-waiting, Greg Sheridan, praises the “noble cause“:

The Iraq war was the right war against the right enemy at the right time, and waged for broadly the right reasons. There is no need to apologise about it. Notwithstanding many mistakes in execution in the peace-keeping phase, provided the coalition of the willing retains its nerve there is every chance of achieving a reasonable outcome still.

Success is not guaranteed. Nothing is guaranteed except blood and toil and trouble. Aspects of the operation after the conventional fighting have been spectacularly incompetent. But the decision to go to war was the right one.

George Bush, Tony Blair and John Howard deserve praise for their courage. The coalition soldiers, overall, have performed magnificently.

It is an extraordinarily delusional piece, so read the whole thing. His column manages to defend Bush, Blair and Howard without once mentioning the civilian casualties of the invasion and occupation. He clearly cares so much for the Iraqi people that he can’t quite acknowledge the humanitarian, security and economic disaster in present-day Iraq. Indeed, much of the mainstream media has failed miserably in detailing this.

It’s like writing about Israel and Palestine without once mentioning the occupation (as recently evidenced by the President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies), or discussing “democratic” Sudan without raising Darfur.

Sheridan and his ever-shrinking clique may truly believe that Iraq is “noble” but facts tell a vastly different story. “Strategic” reasons for invading sound fancy in Washington, London and Canberra – and Sheridan never actually ventures into countries “liberated” by the US army – but the reality on the ground is catastrophic.

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