We may pay a high price for Iraq

IN commercial, criminal and civil liability law, damage done unlawfully, accidentally or recklessly falls liable on the doer.

The Iraq war was not accidental, but was both unlawful and reckless. So far the international media has only attempted to put estimated dollar costs on the war in so far as it impinged on the economies of the perpetrator countries, mainly the US, Britain, Australia, Spain, Italy, and those others listed as the 'coalition of the willing'.

Some of these coalition members, notably Ireland, may even have managed, so far, to make a small profit out of this war. Others such as Spain and Australia had hoped also to cash in on their complicity, but suffered serious losses in the bombings in Madrid and Bali.