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Sunday, November 12, 2006

America and Britain Should Quit Iraq As Soon As Possible--Lord Lamont of UK

"The failure of Messrs Bush and Blair and the neo-cons to understand Arab grievances has been translated into a "clash of civilisations" and a threat to Western values "by people determined to destroy our way of life", as the Prime Minister put it. But there is no clash of civilisations unless we are determined to create one. We are not going to live under a universal caliphate. Osama bin Laden and his gangsters have not the faintest chance of destroying our way of life, unless we do so ourselves.

"America over-reacted to the tragedy of 9/11 and, while the invasion of Afganistan was necessary, the bombing campaign was excessive. Mr Rumsfeld's remark - "There aren't enough targets in Afghanistan" - explains much of the motivation for the invasion of Iraq.

"The misconceived "war on terror" has made the world a much more dangerous place. I never thought that I would find myself agreeing with anything said by Mr Ahmadinejad, but in a letter he asked Mr Bush a good question: "What makes you think it right to flatten a village because two or three terrorists are there?" Many people we have seen on television, in funeral processions in Fallujah and Baghdad, have asked the same question.

America and Britain should leave Iraq as soon as possible. There are no other options. There never will be a right time. As long as foreign troops remain, the Iraqis will avoid responsibility for their own destiny, and the chances of holding their country together may be greater without foreign troops.

Antiwar.com

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