A spectre is haunting Westminster

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

It is said that generals always fight the battles of the last war. The same could be said of the Labour government over Trident. It's back to the 1980s as far as they're concerned. The spectres of Michael Foot in his donkey jacket at the Cenotaph, of Thatcher and Reagan sneering at the disarmament movement, still haunt those whose greatest fear is being denounced by Rupert Murdoch.

How else do we explain the government plans to replace Trident, a system which can't even be used without US permission, designed to fight an enemy that doesn't exist, at the astronomical cost of £25 billion (and rising)? And it's been sold to us by Blair with the argument that it would give Britain greater independence from the US!

They don't seem to have noticed that life has moved on. The Cold War has gone, we are deeply embroiled in unwinnable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and large numbers of people believe that the US and President Bush present the greatest danger to our security. And at a time when hospital closures, student tuition fees and housing shortages are all presented as the only alternative because the money isn't there and because governments can no longer spend on public services, the money for Trident seems all the more obscene.

The people who sold us WMD, the 45 minute claim, the legality of the war and the dodgy dossier are at it again. They find a willing and credulous audience among MPs. Cabinet ministers tell us that we need Trident to combat North Korea and Iran. Really?

After the debacle of Iraq there is really no reason why this spin should be listened to nor why Labour MPs should follow their government into the voting lobbies. Public opinion is divided on the issue, but is much more heavily against Trident when the cost is raised. MPs made a very big mistake in voting for the Iraq war, as many now recognise. They are in danger of repeating that mistake.

The British parliament now has the record of being the most supine among the belligerent powers. Even in the US, there is much more official inquiry into what went wrong. Tomorrow James Baker's Iraq Study Group is due to report. There has been much talk about whether US troops should withdraw or in George Bush's words should make a 'graceful exit'. Disgraceful exit might be more like it.

Whatever the conclusions of the report, it will tacitly acknowledge that the US has lost in Iraq and that the occupying powers have presided over an ever worsening situation. It's a shame our parliament can't even muster a debate on the subject.

12/05/2006 01:13:00 PM | Permalink