UR TV CAST

I’d call them laughter lines – she tells very good jokes – but Sarah’s husband said that she was beginning to look like an old hag and should have something done about them before he traded her in for a new model. He pays the bills; Sarah no longer works; enough said.
So anyway she telephoned Dr Marlow, as I shall call him, listened to the various time-defying treatments he was offering and eventually booked herself in for an injection of something call Restalyn which, he assured her, was like Botox only better and safer. Before everyone gets too excited about the Government’s new clampdown on illegal cosmetic surgery and back-street Botox merchants, let me tell you a cautionary tale. A fortysomething friend whose husband sets great store by her appearance – she used to model lingerie and swimwear – went to a highly recommended cosmetic surgeon with an impressive list of famous clients and glitzy premises in Knightsbridge to have something done about her wrinkles. It is our belief that the more Iraqis show their determination to take charge of their country, the sooner the occupation will end..

It is also incontestable that an election held under occupation, amid great physical danger, is not “free and fair”. But this is an election, and it will earn its credibility by the number of voters and regions that take part. Imagine how it might have been if Iraqis had toppled Saddam Hussein themselves. Imagine how it might have been if the Iraqi army had not been disbanded on the orders of a newly arrived American viceroy, but stripped of its Baathist politics and deployed at once to enforce law and order. Imagine how it might have been if the US and British had honoured their undertakings to ensure reliable supplies of water and electricity from the first month. Imagine, too, that Iraqi voters could go to vote tomorrow without risking their lives We can imagine to infinity. But this is not what has happened.Waging war on Iraq was a terrible mistake and a catastrophic misjudgement for which the political leaders in the United States and in this country must still answer.

And whatever the suffering of Iraqis under Saddam Hussein, it is not at all apparent that their lives are significantly better now. Just in the past month, much of Baghdad has been without running water for days on end; power cuts are frequent; the illegal trade in smuggled oil continues. It is perhaps their only chance for now to determine their own future. We could certainly have hoped that the circumstances would have been more propitious. Their fear is that elections, even inadequate ones, will be used to sanction a longer occupation and establish a pro-US puppet government in power Such a course of events would not be without precedent.

And there is a school of thought in this country, too, which finds support for the elections totally incompatible with opposition to the war. We disagree.These elections – even under occupation, the freest for half a century – give Iraqis a chance. According to this view, the illegality of the war and the iniquities of the occupation take precedence over all other considerations: the troops should be withdrawn forthwith and let Iraq cope as it may. With Iraq already teetering on the brink of civil war, there is no guarantee whatever that the resistance will die down within another election-less year; the greater likelihood is that it could grow.The more convincing argument is that elections should have been held long ago: as soon after the invasion as it was possible to organise the basic accoutrements of an election. The promise of a swift advance to democracy was betrayed.Amid so much disillusionment, the ferocious intent of insurgents of all stripes to disrupt the elections is hardly surprising. Fine words about the need for time to conduct a census, register voters, organise political parties and the rest were never acted upon. In the event, the electoral rolls have been compiled, as they could have been months ago, on the basis of the old regime’s ration cards In the interim, security has only grown worse.

But it is no use arguing either that the elections should have been delayed. Despite the much-vaunted transfer of sovereignty last summer, the reality is that the foreign forces are still occupiers who stormed into Iraq uninvited; their presence is resented and accompanied by increasing mayhem. Voting is likely to be along religious and ethnic grounds, with whole sections and regions choosing not to take part. The resulting assembly, which is supposed to produce a prime minister, nominate a government and draft a constitution, could be perilously unrepresentative unless it can somehow be adjusted or supplemented afterwards.