Shock and battle: Iraq twenty years later
By BBC Radio 4, introduced by Gordon Corera
Podcast, 2023
In his new podcast sequence ‘Shock and Struggle: Iraq 20 Years On’, BBC safety correspondent Gordon Corera makes an attempt to reply a query that politicians, journalists and anxious residents have been pondering for the previous twenty years: how precisely has Britain discovered itself embroiled in such a extensively hated and largely unsuccessful battle in Iraq? Though Corera doesn’t discover a simple reply, the journey, because the platitude goes, is extra fascinating. And on this regard, Corera doesn’t disappoint. Over the course of ten twenty-minute episodes, he covers a formidable quantity of floor, deftly navigating the listener between Anglo-American relations, the intelligence (or lack thereof) relating to Saddam Hussein’s possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the aftermath of the invasion on the bottom in Iraq, and the home political penalties of turning into concerned in a deeply unpopular and unlawful battle. It’s produced by the BBC and will be heard on-line or over the airwaves on Radio 4 (upcoming occasions will be discovered right here).
Those that tune in can count on a various and distinguished line-up of company. The podcast itself is constructed round a mass of interviews carried out by Corera, that are woven collectively to kind a historic narrative that takes the listener by way of the important thing occasions surrounding Britain’s involvement within the battle, as advised by those that had been there. The illustrious visitor record contains former head of MI6 Sir Richard Dearlove, former International Secretary Jack Straw, Luis Rueda, head of the CIA’s Iraq operations, Hans Blix, former head of the UN nuclear weapons inspectorate UNMOVIC, and historian and member of the Chilcot inquiry Sir Lawrence Freedman. Among the strongest moments, nonetheless, come not from the massive names, however appropriately from the Iraqis themselves. Salman Khairalla, Faiza Al-Araji and Marwah Abdulqader present heartbreaking tales of a rustic enduring despotism, invasion and painful makes an attempt at reconstruction, serving as an necessary reminder that the actual impression of the battle was not felt in Birmingham or Bristol, however quite in Baghdad and Basra.
However, the British expertise stays steadfastly on the forefront. The widespread thread all through the sequence is a captivating, prolonged interview with the person on the middle of Britain’s involvement in Iraq: then Prime Minister Tony Blair. Whereas every knowledgeable provides his view on what was actually happening, Blair is repeatedly introduced again to supply reasoning, justification and in some circumstances remorse for the actions taken and their impression in each Britain and Iraq. It’s not usually {that a} politician topics himself to questioning about probably the most closely criticized and unpopular choices of his political profession, and Corera is taking advantage of this chance. In a remarkably tense second within the third episode, entitled “The Spies,” Corera and Blair wrestle over the extent to which the intelligence providers have failed to supply an correct evaluation of Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction program — an evaluation that was in the end used, in accordance with Corera. , as the principle public justification for the battle. Throughout the broader format, Blair’s interviews are notably placing. The cacophony of voices, every providing their very own fervent view of what was proper and mistaken, maybe displays the ambiance within the corridors of Downing Road within the weeks and months main as much as the invasion. Politics, as so usually occurs, will get in the best way of greatest practices.
It is this deal with politics that’s concurrently one of many podcast’s best strengths, but additionally its most important weak point. The legality of the battle is commonly referenced within the sequence, however by no means totally addressed. Corera attracts on the difficulty of the authorized foundation for the battle by way of discussions within the UN Safety Council and the seek for proof of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Nevertheless, that is the extent of the protection. In consequence, most listeners know – within the absence of specialist information – that the legality of the battle was necessary, however not why that’s the case, nor why the invasion of Iraq is extensively thought to be unlawful. This shortcoming additionally implies that Corera misses the chance to delve into the feasibility of the British argument for battle, which was variously based mostly on humanism, preventive self-defense based mostly on Iraq’s alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction, and UN resolutions Safety Council courting again to the Iraqi battle. invasion of Kuwait in 1990 (for additional dialogue of the authorized justifications of the battle, see Bellamy 2003 or Simpson 2005). The battle in Iraq is an ideal instance of the Janus-oriented utility of regulation relating to armed battle. As within the present Russo-Ukrainian battle, worldwide regulation is fervently invoked to justify the invasion, however in a method that co-opts the rules of regulation to excuse conduct that’s outright unlawful. This dissonance between rhetoric and conduct is a pattern that Corera notes all through the podcast, however sadly misses probably the most evident instance by selecting to lift the authorized argument solely when it’s related to political maneuvering.
That stated, “Shock and Struggle” just isn’t a podcast about worldwide regulation. The dearth of consideration to the authorized aspect of the battle doesn’t undermine the standard of research that Corera gives all through, however quite represents a missed alternative to broaden it additional. General, the podcast gives a captivating and necessary reflection on Britain’s function within the Iraq Struggle twenty years on. Within the closing moments of the ultimate episode, Corera as soon as once more chooses to deal with these whose lives had been eternally modified by the choice to go to battle in Iraq. Their phrases present an important basis for the sequence as a complete, reminding the listener that whereas the British proceed to go about their day by day lives in relative security, Iraqis are nonetheless feeling the aftershocks of the battle twenty years later. As Faiza Al-Araji stated: “After twenty years, nothing shines anymore, you see? It is nonetheless darkish.”
References
Bellamy, Alex J. (2003) ‘Worldwide Legislation and the Struggle with Iraq’, Melbourne Journal of Worldwide Legislation4:2.
Simpson, Gerry (2005) ‘The Iraq Struggle and Worldwide Legislation’, Melbourne Journal of Worldwide Legislation6:1.
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