Today's (UK) tabloid newspaper editorials

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell () newcastle ac uk>
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 18:00:23 +0000
To: farber () cis upenn edu
Subject: Today's (UK) tabloid newspaper editorials

Dave:

I don't normally see the Daily Mirror, one of the mass-market tabloid
papers here in the UK, leave alone it's rival tabloid, from the other
end of the political spectrum, The Sun. However I happened across a
copy of the Mirror at lunch time, and read the two page editorial -
and then searched the web to find what The Sun was saying.

It could be argued that these two newspapers are more influential
here, in terms of overall effect on the general public's attitudes,
than the more "respectable" broadsheet papers such as The Times, The
Guardian, etc. Certainly their circulations are much greater. So I
though IPers might like to see their respective editorials.

cheers

Brian Randell

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            BLAIR'S LET US DOWN..BUT SOLDIERS WON'T
                      Daily Mirror, Mar 18 2003
 

SO NOW we go to war. A war without international support, or the
backing of the British public.

A lot of people have pondered on how the Daily Mirror will treat our
servicemen and women once the first bomb is dropped.

How can we possibly support them when we are so opposed to the war, they
ask?

The answer is a simple one. We are completely behind our British
Armed Services, as we always have been.

In a democracy the military follows the orders of the government.

Blair will have his parliamentary sanction for war - in defiance of
UN and world opinion. And our forces must obey him.

As the Royal Marines interviewed yesterday said: "We are in the hands
of the politicians."

Our forces are well aware of the furore back home, and of the sense
of disquiet and anger from many British people at this decision to go
to war.

It is unsettling for them, distracting.

We understand that. And we know that many of them feel equally uneasy
about why this war is being waged.

But they need to also understand very clearly that once that first
bomb is detonated, the Daily Mirror unequivocally supports them.

We have, as is often rightly boasted, the best armed forces in the
world. Land, sea or air, they are superbly professional, skilled and
courageous.

In the next few days many of them will come under fire from the
enemy. Some may, God forbid, be wounded or worse.

Their families at home will be beside themselves with worry, praying
for the safe return of their loved ones.

The troops themselves will also be anxious, wondering what is going
to happen to them when war erupts.

But they will do their job to the best of their abilities, as usual.

They will be determined, brave, and desperately proud to fight for
their country. They will, as ever, make us proud of their valour and
their expertise.

But we hope they will also understand if the Mirror does not rejoice
in the inevitable deaths of countless Iraqi civilians during a war we
don't believe is justified. We will report the news as it unfurls
fairly and responsibly, with compassion and humanity.

But while we will back our servicemen and women to the hilt as they
risk their lives to fulfil the wishes of the British government, we
will not so easily forgive our Prime Minister or his ministers for
going to war in this way.

It is not unpatriotic to say that this is all a terrible mistake. Nor
is it unpatriotic to keep up our relentless attacks on the
politicians who have made it.

The Daily Mirror cannot hide disgust at this decision. It goes
against everything Prime Minister Tony Blair claimed he would do in
our name.

It goes against everything the Labour Party has ever stood for.

And it goes against the innate sense of fair play and justice that
has always been the bedrock of British life.

To be perfectly blunt, we are horrified at what is about to happen in Iraq.

Saddam Hussein is not the target of our sympathy and never would be.
He's a repulsive, murderous dictator who deserves everything that he
gets.

But the Iraqi people are. The innocent civilians who are about to be
unlawfully killed deserve none of the bombardment they are about to
receive.

WE use the phrase unlawfully killed because it is being done against
the will of the United Nations and, therefore, international law. It
is illegal, however hard George Bush and Tony Blair try to convince
us otherwise.

The reality of this war is that Iraq is about to be demolished under
the heaviest military attack ever unleashed on one nation.

Baghdad will be blitzed, we are told, by 3,000 Cruise missiles in 48
hours. The city will be smashed to pieces, as will many of its
inhabitants, military or otherwise.

London was the target of similar devastation during the Blitz and we
have never forgotten.

Imagine the horror if it happened now.

Then ask yourself whether anything we've heard from Bush and Blair in
the last few months has persuaded you that this is justified.

They told us Saddam has got weapons of mass destruction. We haven't
seen any. They told us he was linked to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.
But have singularly failed to prove it.

They told us it's not about oil. But Iraq's oil reserves are the
second largest in the world and Bush is desperate to control them.

They told us that they would get a second UN resolution and would not
go to war without one. They didn't and they are.

Tony Blair has even tried convincing us that Saddam poses a clear and
present danger to Britain. He quite obviously doesn't.

In short, just about everything they've told us to validate this
conflict has turned out to be nonsense.

Is it any wonder the world is in uproar at what is about to happen?

We expected this from George Bush. Before he was even, fraudulently,
elected the Daily Mirror produced an edition detailing how he had
executed more people in five years as Governor of Texas than any
governor in American history.

The guy likes blood.

And in Saddam he has found the perfect target - a nasty piece of work
who his father left in power after the first Gulf War and who even
tried to kill Dubya's own wife in Kuwait.

Add the untold potential oil revenues, and America's understandable
lust for a scalp to atone for September 11, and you have the Bush
rationale for war on Iraq.

Our quarrel is not with the American people, a large number of whom
share our views of their current President.

Our quarrel is with George Bush, a not very bright Texan oil man, and
his terrifyingly right- wing administration.

What we could never have predicted was that the British Prime
Minister, a Labour man, would go along with this current madness.

Tony Blair has received many plaudits for his courage in having a
conviction and sticking to it. We keep hearing what a bold leader
he's been, working tirelessly to get the Americans to the United
Nations negotiating table and striving valiantly to secure a further
resolution.

But the truth is he has failed.

And the real act of courage would be if he rang George Bush this
morning and told him that he could not, under these circumstances, go
to war. That without the UN's support he could not take British men
and women into battle.

But Mr Blair won't do that because he knows he has taken us too far,
that to pull out now would make America view us in the same way they
view France for bravely standing up to them: with contempt.

So instead he is reduced to taking military action with less support
than any British Prime Minister in modern history, and with no right
- either legally or morally - to do so.

It's an appalling state of affairs.

So appalling that Cabinet heavyweight Robin Cook resigned yesterday
on a point of genuine political principle - leaving the rest of his
colleagues saying nothing, to protect their fat salaries and
chauffeur-driven cars.

Mr Cook should be applauded from the rooftops for this extraordinary act.

Clare Short has said she is considering her position. What a shallow
political creature she would turn out to be if she fails to follow Mr
Cook's lead.

The rest of the Cabinet should just feel totally ashamed of themselves.

IN his devastating resignation speech, Mr Cook said, among other
things, that the worst thing about this situation is that if the Bush
family hadn't fixed the US election we'd have Al Gore as President
and would not be sending our troops into this war.

How true, and how truly awful.

A beleaguered Mr Blair is now banking on a swift war, with minimum
casualties, Saddam's death, and Iraqi civilians hailing the British
and American troops as liberating heroes.

The reality is that he hasn't a clue what will happen. Trapped, and
knowing he's going to die, Saddam Hussein may decide to take as many
as he can with him.

It could be a lengthy, bloody, terrible battle.

But now that war is inevitable, all we can do is hope it will be over
quickly.

To our armed forces today, we say: "We support you, we pray for you,
we wish you a speedy and safe return."

And we say the same to the poor Iraqi civilians who have suffered
terrible distress for so long, and who now face one of the most
savage bombardments in military history.

The truth is, we are all paying the price for the behaviour of our
political leaders.

Source: 
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12747012&method=full&;
siteid=50143



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                THE TYRANT WILL SOON BE GONE
                     The Sun, Mar 18 2003

THE diplomatic jaw-jaw has ended, now the only way forward is war-war.

President Bush's steely determination to rid the world of Saddam
Hussein was clear on TV early today.

"The tyrant will soon be gone," he pledged.

He warned Saddam and his sons they had 48 hours to get out of Baghdad.

Iraq's doomsday weapons and the country's links with terrorists posed
a direct and present threat to the world, said Bush.

Before that day of horror can come, this danger will be removed, he
promised.

Bush's frustration with the UN and anger at the French was plain.

He and Tony Blair have seen months of gruelling work destroyed by
Chirac and the bumbling UN.

But the two men are united in their resolve to make the world a safer place.

The world should rejoice that it is in such capable hands.

           Cook retort

ROBIN COOK showed last night why Tony Blair is better off without him.

Hours after quitting the Cabinet, Cook said he did not believe
Blair's view that Iraq was a danger to Britain.

And he supported French President Jacques Chirac, saying that
international hostility towards Britain and America wasn't all the
fault of France.

Cook has been storing up this bile for years. Iraq was the excuse he
needed to let it all out.

And the Labour rebels loved every second of it.

In today's debate, Blair clearly faces a momentous challenge to his
authority.

Cook may be a pipsqueak by comparison, but like a small dog he packs
a nasty bite.

At least Blair has him out in the open where he can deal with him.

Ex-Foreign Secretary Cook was scathing about Israel, the only
democracy in the Middle East, and about President Bush.

And his claim that if Al Gore had been elected President, we would
not be on the brink of war, was a vicious insult.

Americans will be amazed by the views held by a former member of
Blair's government.

They will watch on TV news as Cook gets a standing ovation from
fellow MPs and wonder if - with our troops poised to attack in the
desert - Britain has gone mad.

The question now is how long Clare Short can continue in office.

Like Cook, she is the enemy, too - but she is the enemy within.

Source:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,31-2003121659,00.html


-- 
School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell () newcastle ac uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/


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