Comments on: We can’t turn them away

By: Wolfie

Wolfie — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 18:08:03 +0000

I thought it was obvious I was referring to our civil war. I think you can call Iraq that now.

Still it doesn’t answer my question and I don’t see how things will get better (for them to return) all by itself.

“Morally speaking, there is no argument”, is a convenient response but like you even admit – not an argument.

By: aidan

aidan — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 21:15:22 +0000

“Britain has historically been through violent and troubled periods. IsnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t the fact that most stood their ground rather than turn tail and emigrate the very reason that peace was restored and our country became a better place?”

You would compare what period of British history with the ongoing mass psychosis in Iraq?

During the blitz the enemy was in the sky or across the channel. There was a tremendous sense of solidarity among Brits. After the war the last thing flag waving, fountain wading victors in Trafalgar Square wanted to do was run off and hide somewhere.

The IRA campaign on the UK mainland was a walk in the park. Compared to the savagery on the loose in Iraq, provisional IRA ‘warnings’ prior to hitting a pub seem almost gentlemanly. They even used to issue apologies in Belfast for killing or injuring civilians.

So what’s left … Normans? Viking raids? Romans?

No – Iraq is in a class of its own. The weaponry is more high tech. The insurgents brutal and without a shred of conscience. A land in which you can’t trust your own shadow, or even your own mother. Courageous Iraqis who risked life and limb to work with British forces have been fingered by those in the know. When the Brits leave, there will be hell to pay.

Morally speaking, there is no argument. The UK absolutely must offer assistance to such people to leave and re-settle should they chose to do so. Maybe at some point in the future, they can return and offer the expertise you refer to. However they won’t be much help if they’re floating down the Tigris with a bag over their head.

By: Wolfie

Wolfie — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 10:46:52 +0000

I have a question though. If we take all those people who have assisted in the allied forces in Iraq as refugees, who will be left to re-build the country when we are gone? When we have a lion’s share of the educated and brave? Isn’t this going to cripple the country in the long-term and leave it to the extremists?

Britain has historically been through violent and troubled periods. Isn’t the fact that most stood their ground rather than turn tail and emigrate the very reason that peace was restored and our country became a better place?

Since the start of the Iraq war quite a lot (I don’t have figures) of the most educated Iraqis have sought asylum in other countries and no doubt this is not helping Iraq rebuild into some semblance of normality. Indeed isn’t it following the common Globalization pattern where western countries readily accept people who are a thorn in the side of despotic regimes who govern resource-rich countries with whom we have a vested interest in maintaining the status-quo?