All communities need regulating.  To a certain extent, each community determines its own regulations, providing they don’t clash with those of the wider community.  The household, the street, the village, the state, each has a limited right of self-government employing a system that monitors behaviour and restrains or punishes transgressors.

These households, streets, villages, nations, make up the world community, governed after a fashion by United Nations.  As yet, the UN has not been able to provide a satisfactory system of monitoring, restraining and punishing international transgressors, leaving unanswered the question of what is appropriate behaviour between nations, and what is the appropriate response to transgressors.

Civilisation has moved a long way from the Law of the Jungle where Might is Right.    If the UN is to uphold the values of civilisation, it should seek to prevent the abuse of power, whether power is measured in terms of population, economics, or weapons.  It is a moot point which poses the biggest threat to world peace: the economic and military power of the USA or the fanaticism and dirty weapons of Iraq.   The aggressive way in which the USA seeks to persuade other members of UN to support a war could also be seen as abusive.

There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein rules his own people by force and by the abuse of human rights.  By invading Kuwait in the past he has shown a desire for international expansion.  To maintain his power base he needs weapons.  None of which is justification of war by the USA or by the wider international community.  Many countries are governed by leaders or parties who abuse human rights, possess weapons of mass destruction, and seek through politics, religion or trade to dominate their neighbours. 

There is no evidence that Iraq possesses the capability of mounting an attack against the USA or Western Europe.  There is no evidence linking Iraq with international terrorism.  For the most powerful nation on earth to strike the first blow would be to confirm what America's enemies have always maintained: the USA is the aggressor.  Even if the case can be made for removing Saddam Hussein from power, war is a questionable strategy.  The USA has been involved in several wars far from home, and in recent years has not been particularly successful.  Specifically, the Gulf War failed to dislodge Saddam Hussein, and the Afghan campaign failed to remove Bin Laden.  If we can learn anything at all from history, perhaps we should remember that America’s greatest success since WW2, the Cold War, was not won by launching pre-emptive strikes.

Most people might agree that it would be a better neighbourhood without Saddam Hussein.  But if justice and common sense are sacrificed we householders who survive the war in our streets and small villages will find ourselves in a totalitarian world that democracy sought for so long to prevent.