War enthusiasts wise after the fact

ON this Saturday last year, 100,000 people took to the streets of Dublin to protest against an impending war. It was the biggest mass demonstration for 20 years or more, as were the ones in London and other European cities. None made a whit of difference.

The war was as inevitable as rain in Belmullet. It happened. The Government here, as elsewhere, was swayed by greater powers.

What has happened in the intervening year has seen an unravelling of all the certainties and predictions made in the run-up to war on both sides. Many detractors talked about a long and messy war. They were wrong. But those in favour of war were very wrong too. Many had bought the line that the occupying US troops would have be greeted with flowers as happened in France at the end of WWII.