American attack on Iraq would be a shameful strike against democracy

IN the history of the world, no democratic country has ever deliberately initiated a full-scale war with another country.

In the history of the world, no democratic countries have ever gone to war with each other.

Those are two profound facts. They derive from several of the central tenets of democracy: that government must derive authority from the people; that decisions must be made in accordance with law; that executives must be accountable; that the media must be free to criticise. There are others, but the combination of all of them has always meant that democracies endlessly seek other ways to settle disputes.