Is attacking Iran going to improve world peace?
Apr 12, 2006
SIR — Last week, we came to know that several of Britain's defence chiefs were going to meet to discuss the effects on British interests of a military strike on Iran by the United States to destroy that county’s capacity to build a nuclear bomb.
SIR — Last week, we came to know that several of Britain's defence chiefs were going to meet to discuss the effects on British interests of a military strike on Iran by the United States to destroy that county’s capacity to build a nuclear bomb.
The story was dismissed by defence ministry officials in the UK as having “no truth in it whatsoeverâ€. It is, of course, no secret that the Bush administration has drawn up plans for a strike on Iran. Many of the US officials opposed to a strike believe that its most immediate effect will be to generate an armed insurrection among the Shias in southern Iraq — precisely the region where British soldiers are concentrated.
British soldiers are the most visible and easily accessible symbols of the American-led occupation in southern Iraq. They would be at very serious risk. Iran has also threatened to shut down its oil exports in the event of a strike, which could have a devastating effect on the world’s economies.
British defence chiefs are not talking about any of these things. They have no anxiety about what might happen to British soldiers in Iraq, and are certainly not meeting to discuss what to do in the event that the US drops bombs tipped with nuclear warheads on Iran’s nuclear facilities. But is this the best way in which the world should be run? How come Israel goes on posing with her nuclear weapons and remains unharmed? Can’t America look for cheaper ways of getting oil?
Sula Nsubuga
Makerere University
The story was dismissed by defence ministry officials in the UK as having “no truth in it whatsoeverâ€. It is, of course, no secret that the Bush administration has drawn up plans for a strike on Iran. Many of the US officials opposed to a strike believe that its most immediate effect will be to generate an armed insurrection among the Shias in southern Iraq — precisely the region where British soldiers are concentrated.
British soldiers are the most visible and easily accessible symbols of the American-led occupation in southern Iraq. They would be at very serious risk. Iran has also threatened to shut down its oil exports in the event of a strike, which could have a devastating effect on the world’s economies.
British defence chiefs are not talking about any of these things. They have no anxiety about what might happen to British soldiers in Iraq, and are certainly not meeting to discuss what to do in the event that the US drops bombs tipped with nuclear warheads on Iran’s nuclear facilities. But is this the best way in which the world should be run? How come Israel goes on posing with her nuclear weapons and remains unharmed? Can’t America look for cheaper ways of getting oil?
Sula Nsubuga
Makerere University