by Anthony Barnett, openDemocracy founder
Last Sunday Ironist, the UK blogger, criticised openDemocracy in Missing the Point.
Perhaps it is not for me to suggest why it is ridiculous to accuse openDemocracy of "stifling debate over global competitiveness" and "forcing" readers "into a certain mindset over every issue" because a contributor mentioned the importance of Iraq.
However, Ironist appears to have lost any claim to irony if he/she believes that Iraq, while important, is not THAT important because, for example, the UK has less troops there than in Northern Ireland. Talk about missing the point - this really is missing the wood for the trees.
I'm reminded of the TV interview Blair gave before the war (I think on Newsnight). With great eloquence he insisted on the tremendous threat Saddam posed to Britain. "Does that mean we will need to invade even if America decides not?", the interviewer asked (I'm paraphrasing). There was for a moment the delightful sight of collapsing sails.
The importance of Iraq is not what we are doing there, which sensibly now seems to be to keep out of the line of fire as much as possible. It is that the UK, is, to quote a Downing Street spokesman, getting up the arse of the White House and staying there.
Sorry to lower the tone, but what "Iraq" means has, alas, rather little to do with that country. It stands for the national humiliation of embracing a dishonest and misconceived and misjudged US strategy. This is the wood. It has very wide implications. And it means that Iraq is not "just one of the plethora of issues" as Ironist suggests.
In all likelihood few see this more clearly than the men and women, the oaks of the armed forces, serving in Iraq, whom Ironist counts and compares.
