International Contradictions and Hypocrisies By Andrew Martin

After reading the British government's pre-war dossiers on WMDs anyone with the slightest hint of intelligence would have concluded that the ability of Iraq to pose a serious threat to the world was minimal. The evidence in these documents was thin, circumstantial, outdated and was, to put it mildly, far from convincing. Therefore, it was no surprise that after the conflict had officially ended the alleged threat of Iraq through its possession of WMDs and its links to terrorists was emphatically disproved.

It was also no surprise that instead of apologising for starting a war for no apparent reason, the US and British governments chose to outline other motives for which, they claimed, were just as important as Iraq's alleged arsenal of WMD (thus still legitimising the deaths of 50,000-100,000 Iraqi civilians and thousands of servicemen, aid workers and other individuals who ended up in Iraq as a result of the war).

The new excuses ranged from the obvious, to the ridiculous and hypocritical, and I am sure that I do not need to remind you of any of them. However, it is one of these justifications, repeatedly voiced by both governments and many pro-war supporters, that really highlights the arrogance, hypocrisy and even stupidity of these people.

Why, if invading Iraq is justifiable alone by the fact that the Iraqis are now free from the tyrannical rule of Saddam Hussein, do the British and US have a history and tendency to prop up brutal dictatorships, to sabotage democratically elected governments, to willingly break international law (Iraq), to commit violations in human rights and ignore the Geneva Convention (Guantanamo Bay)? And if these governments are really so concerned by human rights abuses why have they still done nothing to directly resolve the humanitarian disaster currently occurring in Sudan?

Clearly there is no basis in such an argument at all for since 1945 the US, often along with Britain, has intervened in the affairs of over 60 different countries. Very rarely have interventions been the result of governments disagreeing with human rights tragedies in other countries. However many of these interventions have included military occupation and invasion of hostile or ideologically opposed countries (Vietnam), intense diplomatic pressure on hostile opponents and the supporting and arming military coups on democratically elected governments (Venezuela, Guatemala).

Furthermore, the US and British have often directly supported and propped up corrupt, unpopular and brutal dictatorships that were/are friendly to US/UK interests (Uzbekistan, Turkey, Chile, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria......).

Therefore, the argument that Iraq was invaded, justifiably, to put an end to human rights atrocities is absurd. It is also likely that an intervention in Sudan, on the scale of that in Iraq, is also unlikely. Yet surely of all the places where intervention would be universally accepted this is it? It was only ten years ago that civil war in Rwanda resulted in the murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians.

The rest of the world stood back and let this happen, yet after the atrocities were over it was stated that this would never be allowed to happen again.

However, with Sudanese people in the Darfur region of the country already dying from starvation and from the vicious attacks (from Sudanese government supported groups) that forced them out of their homes and villages in the first place, nothing really seems to being done by the outside world.

The world should not only act to intervene in Sudan immediately, it should also refuse to accept the hypocrisies of governments who are unable to tell the truth. Unfortunately the truth hurts the most when the lies start at home.

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