Peace nuts, anyone?

There’s a curious notion abroad: That a war against Iraq cannot be prosecuted by the West without more endorsements from the United Nations, from which all supranational legitimacy flows. With its manipulative, soft-focus ‘we are the world agenda’ the United Nations has become the new Princess Diana. It now serves as a rallying icon for marching against “this war” wafting clouds of thought-free sentimental banalities. Yes, it’s not about the security of the West. It’s not about a horrifying dictatorship. It’s not about hardware. It’s about “feelings.”



I was at a dinner party in the south of France last weekend. Seated next to me was a Canadian. Gray pants, gray pullover, gray hair, a gray – not to say sub-surface – complexion. Opposite was a Swede, similarily apparelled. My heart sank. How long before one of them brought up the war? It was halfway through the second course. The Swede. The usual blether. “We must give the UN a chance,” he said with a straight face, while the other nodded in eager agreement. “Absolutely! We must give Saddam more time!” “Bush is a moron. A cowboy!” (What would these people do for adjectives if the President hailed from Delaware?) Well, we’ve all read the script. No mention of the Iraqis currently being starved and tortured to death, but enormous emotional concern for hypothetical Iraqis who might get in the way of a daisycutter. This deeply stupid faith in an organization whose membership includes states headed by Robert Mugabe, Assad of Syria, Ghadaffi of Libya, the suspiciously elected prime ministers of South Yemen, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Indonesia, Sudan, Zambia, Ivory Coast and the various ill-assorted dictators and chancers who make up a high proportion of UN membership – not least among them the Butcher of Baghdad himself – is alarming.



Needless to add, both of them had ferretted out some little protest that was being held in some two-bit village nearby and were planning to attend with their slogans proudly hoist.



The drone is, yes, we must liberate Iraq, but only after giving the oddly dubbed “weapons inspectors” (if they haven’t found any, how can they inspect them?) more time. Then OK. Maybe a final ultimatum. But give peace a chance.



First, let me say that I have the deepest contempt for all who marched. The photos say it all. The self-righteous , self-satisfied, self-regarding mahatmas of liberal chic, mindless followers of fashion, old Trots, old hippies, communists, the chatterati, fellow travellers, pacifists, fifth columnists – and, in London at least, a suspiciously large number of peace-loving Muslims who were either imported, or given asylum, for the occasion - and somehow the masses who marched worldwide, in their millions, have missed the point of this war. Well, screw 'em. I don't want the Butcher of Baghdad to bomb Saudi oil wells - as he did the Kuwaiti oil wells (the guy has a record) - and I don't want him giving out ricin recipes to every Arab with a grudge against the London tube system or the I 45 south out of Dallas. Or LAX. I don't want him sending a check for $25,000 and a big wet kiss to the families of suicide bombers. I don’t want him exchanging comradely tips with El-Quaeda or anyone else of that persuasion. I don’t want to hang around waiting for him to get nuclear weapons. I want him to be what is technically known as "dead." Ditto his two gawd-awful sadist sons.



This war has nothing to do with liberating Iraq, although I am sure the Iraqis themselves will regard it as a welcome side effect. This war is to defang Saddam. We will do this by killing him. The war is to protect the West and Western civilisation from the onslaught of uncivilised, medieval bigots and oppressors. If Iraqi liberation gets dragged along in the slipstream of this war, great, but this war is all about us, not them.



For such a bunch of peace nuts, there seemed to be rather a lot of pure hatred being directed at the President of the United States and his allies last Saturday. Someone had taken the trouble to do a "Bomb Bush Not Baghdad" sign, doubtless thinking it rather clever and would do the trick. "Bush And Blair: Wanted for Murder." Saddam has a torture and murder record from here to Ur, yet no mention of him as being on the Most Wanted list. "Don’t Attack Iraq." (Get it? It rhymes!) "No Blood for Oil." Why ever not? Western civilization is now predicated on oil and the plastics derived from it. To all who marched, next time you need a heart valve replacement, we’ll make one up for you out of wood. A tiny girl of around three bore a sign saying "Let Us Grow up In Peace." This was in Amsterdam. I didn’t realise we were planning to bomb Amsterdam. Those Dutch tots are clever though. The sign was written in English. "Wars Will Cease When Men Refuse to Fight." Well of course they will! When people refuse to fight, it’s not called war any more; it’s called surrender.



The dangerous, the deluded and the duped. And all of them, either cynically or with a critical lack of reason, putting their faith in that palace of dictators, the United Nations, and the Homer Simpson of Sumeria, Hans Blix, crawling through the desert looking for cannisters bearing the label: Anthrax. Do Not Touch.



The United Nations is the new Princess Diana, a focal point for people with short memories, an ability to overlook recent history and who value “emotional intelligence” over rationality and clarity of thought. As this corrupt organization weakens itself through failing to enforce its own resolutions and its procrastination in condemning the guilty, its importance diminishes daily among the people who matter. Hopefully, with Jacques Chirac in the role of chauffeur Henri Paul, the UN is right now driving into its very own Alma Tunnel.

The UN: The New Princess Diana?
By Alexis Amory
FrontPageMagazine.com | February 21, 2003