Over at Back Seat Drivers, John says I should watch the Dunphy Show despite the politics. He says he finds Eamonn challenging.
Fair enough. I haven't watched more than 10 minutes spread out over two episodes, but I found him simply infuriating, not challenging. The only question he asked Lara Marlow that I was interested in was whether (and I'm working from a foggy memory now) given that Saddam is gone was the war worth it? Her answer was one of those beautiful "yes, but . . . " responses that is totally illuminating.
Her 'but', was full of "if the UN had approved; if the Israelis had done this, that and the other; blah, blah, blah". If Eamonn were challenging, he could have followed up with "If getting rid of Saddam was so important, then surely all other considerations were secondary and it was open to the French, Germans and Russians before the war to join with the Americans even if their motivations for doing so were completely different".
A lot of the anti-war people seem to be forgetting that the US and UK did go looking for UN approval for the war and it was denied them. And, no matter what they say, if the inspectors had taken a year and found no weapons, Saddam would still be in power. His tyranny would have continued. And, whatever about the weapons of mass destruction or the links with Al Qaeda, the viciousness of his regime was well known before the mass graves were uncovered after the war.
