War will change world as we know it

WORLD order will be changed utterly today as war erupts after the deadline set

W Bush for the dictator Saddam Hussein and his family to leave Iraq.

From the moment bombs begin to fall, the balance of international relations will suffer a major reversal from which it could take years or even decades for the world to recover.

There is no denying the first major casualty of this war has been the United Nations. With its moral

authority eroded and the Security Council in tatters, its future role is threatened by America’s headlong rush to war.

And just when Europe is moving towards greater

integration, two key members, Britain and France, have split apart. On all sides, the ties binding international institutions have been broken.

Significantly, Ireland will play an unsavoury part in the conduct of this war given the Government’s intent to permit America’s ongoing use of Shannon Airport for military transport.

Just how sharply divided the nation is on this vexed question was seen yesterday when a poll on the Marian Finucane show found 56% of 10,000 callers favour the continued use of Shannon with 44% against.

In contrast with this open expression of public opinion, the Government has been secretive, refusing to show its hand on Shannon.

When the Dáil meets today, we can expect Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to straddle both sides of the issue, paying lip service to the primacy of the UN while supporting America’s ongoing access to Shannon.

Mindful of Ireland’s self interests, the Taoiseach is conscious of the significant role America and Britain are playing in the search for peace in Northern Ireland. But how he can square such pacifist sentiments with the

obscenity of war in Iraq is mesmerising.

In human terms, the main casualties will be the

innocent men, women and children of Iraq who

will be slaughtered in their thousands in the name of ridding the world of Saddam and his equally tyrannical sons.

Doubtless, most Iraqis would applaud his departure, be it in chains or in a coffin. But the people will pay

a high price.

It should be remembered that America and Britain are going to war despite the assurances of Hans Blix, the UN weapons inspector, that Iraq was complying with his demands that weapons be destroyed.

Tragically, the toll among civilians, already suffering desperately from UN sanctions, will be immeasurable.

If germ warfare is unleashed, there will be casualties among US, British and the troops of other ‘willing’

nations.

Confusing American access to Shannon with the drive to keep it alive as a vital facility for the Limerick-Clare region is a mistake.

In today’s volatile scenario, with the risk of long-term polarisation of the Arab and Western worlds, an Irish decision allowing the US to use the airport in a war that lacks UN backing will send out the wrong

message.

It will also put Ireland on the wrong side of moral and legal arguments over a conflict that lacks UN backing and in which thousands of innocent people will die.