48 Hours to War

Looks like war is inevitable now. All we can do is pray that it's swift and relatively bloodless; and the aftermath isn't as messy as many people fear it might be.

Scott is not impressed with Bush's speech at all. Meanwhile The sometimes creepy Libertarians at Samizdata.net are rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of the collapse of the United Nations and the European Union, and take great pleasure at the great defeat the believe they've inflicted the 'Transnational Progressives'. Yes, for these people, the real enemy is not the terrorists that are trying to kill us, nor the tyrant the murders his own people. It's the internationalist liberals. Where are the Black Helicopters when we need them?

Meanwhile, the tone of a lot of redneck conservatives trolling around in the comments sections on Blogcritics makes me think that some parts of the American right have descended into clinical paranoia. I wonder if the way they shout down anyone that questions the war is because of their own subconscious doubts about the justification for the war.

My fear isn't so much the war itself; the overwhelming firepower arrayed against Saddam Hussein means the eventual outcome is in no doubt. I'm more worried about what happens next; far from reducing the threat of terrorism, there's a danger that the attack on Iraq could be a recruiting sergeant for Al-Queda. If we manage to cause significant civilian casualties, we'll pay for that in civilian casualties of our own through terrorist attacks. I'm also worried some of the crazier people in the Bush administration hold the same views as warblogger Steven Den Beste. This article of his is truly scary, and suggests the war on Iraq is the first part of a total 'Clash of Civilisations' between the west and a large part of the Islamic world. Please God don't let this be Bush's real stategery!