Iraq

The Iraq Study Group's report, which has dominated the news this week, is an irrelevance. What matters are the ground realities in Iraq and those look irretrievable. Iraq is heading towards disintegration along ethnic and sectarian lines. Much has been made of Iraq's 'democratically elected government'. Even if an election, under the watchful eye of an invading army, can be free and fair, the result hasn't done much to inculcate democratic values and culture. It merely fortified sectarianism.

On another note, Kofi Anan was condemned by some for saying things were now worse than under Saddam. Such visceral condemnation is totally unreasonable. Iraq is an extremely dangerous place to be in. Hundreds of people are being killed every month. There is no law and order. You literally have to worry sick about any family members who need to venture significantly away from home.

Under Saddam, you were not killed while out shopping. You were not killed for turning up to work. There should be no embarrassment in admitting that things were better under Saddam. A corollary of suggesting otherwise is that people living in other tyrannies, whether pro-Western like Saudi, or decidedly anti-Western like Iran, would be better off blowing each other up than they are now. It doesn't make sense.