If truth is the first casualty of war, then untruth is often the first causality of war!

The Iraq war is a tragedy, whatever its legal justification.

When that legal justification is so politicised that the basis of the decision is coated in teflon misinformation, then tragedy deepens.

Some witnesses at the current Iraq enquiry have been depressingly predictable in their use of Orwellian discourse; so human tragedy is trivialised by self serving rhetoric.

Faith in the overall process of truth gathering is not helped by a recently announced 70 year gagging order on papers relating to the death of Dr Kelly, the expert on Weapons of Mass Destruction, whose suicide remains a tragic enigma.

The former Attorney General was quite open about his total change of mind following a visit to the United States and consultation with US lawyers from the State department.

At no time, we are told, was his arm twisted, by US or UK senior politicians. So we are left to conclude that US lawyers are more competent in International Law relating to war and UN Resolutions than our own Attorney General.

Today Tony Blair gives evidence. We already heard some of his case for his own defence on the Fern Britton interview. And it would be wrong to prejudge what he will say, I suppose.

So rather than say more I want to quote a passage from Thomas Merton, The Non-Violent Alternative, (published 1971 several years after Merton's death):

"War-makers in the twentieth century have gone far toward creating a political language so obscure, so apt for treachery, so ambiguous, that it can no longer serve as an instrument for peace; it is good only for war. But why? because the language of the war-maker is self-enclosed in finality. It does not invite reasonable dialogu, it uses language to silence dialogue, to block communication, so that instead of words the two sides may trade divisions, positions, villages, air bases, cities - and of course the lives of the peoploe in them. The daily toll of the killed (or the "kill ratio") is perfunctorily scrutinized and decoded. And the totals are expertly managed by "ministers of truth" so that the newspaper reader may get the right message.

Our side is always ahead. He who is winning must be the one who is right. But we are right, therefore we must be winning. Once again we have the beautiful, narcissistic tautology of war - or of advertising...There is no communicating with anyone else, because anyone who does not agree, who is outside the charmed circle, is wrong, is evil, is already in hell." (Merton in Non Violent Alternative, 243-44)

Forty years on Merton's words are worth reading again,

after we hear the news reports of what was said,

what wasn't said,

and what wasn't said in what was said,

at the Iraq inquiry today.

Comments

[Craig]

this was worth coming to just for the title alone but as usual so much more as well.