A new Prime Minister and President can work together for peace

Tony Blair and George Bush were both fairly effective leaders of their Countries. Both sought to uphold truth and honesty, and worked hard to do the best for their respective Countries. Side by side, they condemned the 9/11 and 7/7 terrorist attacks, and side by side, with the blessing of the United Nations, went to war in Afghanistan.

But their legacies will be rightfully blackened by one, fear-inducing word: Iraq! Because, side by side, they angered the international community, defied the United Nations, and illegally invaded Iraq, providing false evidence of Weapons of Mass Destruction to sell the war to their people.

So far, between 54,213 and 59,873 Iraqi civilians have been reported to have been killed. Every day that figure rises as reports of another car bomb, another ambush or another attack filters through from the anarchic Country.

The two leaders insist that they did not want Iraqi civilians to be killed, but the campaign in Iraq started off with what they called “Shock and awe”, bombs falling on the capital of Baghdad, hitting Government buildings as well as marketplaces and streets. Their very first wave of attacks trained on civilians, innocent civilians, whose only crime was to live in a Country run by an evil dictator, and soaked with oil.

The campaign was, in its own rights, a success. The Government was toppled and, eventually, replaced with an elected Prime Minister. However, the Country itself is forever scarred.

The thoughtlessness that surrounded the invasion was soon to be blinded by the lights of the World’s media shining upon it. It is difficult to conceive what would happen if a foreign army toppled the stable Governments of the US or UK, but the events that continue to this day in Iraq, two-and-a-half years after it was given back its independence from the United States, are demonstrative of the terror that would most likely engulf the Country: destructive anarchy with a nation whose police and army are unable to control its people.

As the people who invaded and caused the breakdown of the State, it is our Political, and moral, duty to work to restore order for the people. They need to be comforted by the promise of a secure, quiet life. However, the promise of 21,500 more troops to be deployed to Iraq will do nothing but add fuel to the fire of their anger. More troops in Iraq means more time in Iraq, when we are seen as the sole cause of the terror.

In two years time, the UK will have a new Prime Minister and the US will have a new President. For the sake of the people of Iraq, our brave troops and their families and friends, it is important to hope that these two leaders will work to restore peace and stability to the Country, but also that they will withdraw their substantial military presence and provide the Iraqi citizens with long overdue hope.

That is why a Conservative Prime Minister in the UK, and Hilary Clinton in the US, would make a perfect combination to do just that. To reassure the electorate that, united, we are working together, for peace.