THE RULES OF CONFLICT

Let us not forget the rules of conflict. And let us not forget that the rules of conflict are significantly slimmer than our Prime Minister will admit. In a war there is but one rule: Anything goes.

By it�s very nature, a war is a state whereby all civilised rules are shelved. By which the previously repugnant state of mass murder is endorsed by the state. Where children are military targets, and where all news is propoganda.

Let us not forget that Saddam Hussein is a dictator. A man who murders his own people by ordering his mortal enemies in neighbouring Iran to bomb his own country so that his opponents can say that he murders his own. A man who refuses the democratic process by rigging elections.

But at least in that respect he is honest. After all, Bush denies rigging an election or murdering his own by sending a quarter of a million soldiers to war.

Make no mistake, the British and American soldiers are an invading army, stealing a country by force. The public were sold a vision of a weekend war, as if it were a picnic in the desert. What they didn�t count on was the fact that some people don�t actually like being invaded by other countries, and that they might be just as devious as the West in defending in their own way of life. They might deliberately pack gas masks to play on the West�s fears of the non-existent chemical Weapons of Mass Distraction.

WEAPONS OF MASS DISTRACTION

The Iraqis are resisting an invasion. And for this act of patriotically defending their own country, these Iraqis are barbarians. Cold blooded murderers. Uncivilised monkeys who execute in cold blood the meat that powers the military machine.

But I admit, if they do execute people in cold blood, that the Iraqis really ought to keep up with the paperwork. Bush signs a piece of paper every time he fries someone in Texas. Admittedly, he might not be able to understand what it is that�s he�s signing, but he�s signing something.

According to Prime Minister Blair, the act of resisting an invading army breaks all the rules of conflict. The act of opening fire upon a troop of soldiers invading your country is nothing more or less than conducting a barbaric execution.

Of course, invading a third world country and dropping napalm on children is completely acceptable and within the rules of conflict.

This, the chanters say, is what democracy looks like. A cadaver is completely acceptable within the rules of conflict. Even more so if it wears a uniform and carries a gun. Those are the rules of conflict : Anything goes. So let us not forget that it is one rule for us. And one rule for them.