Feedback | 4 December 2004

I was horrified at the outright lies that got both the U.S. and Britain into the invasion of Iraq and said that if G.W. were re-elected (not that he won the popular vote the first time) I would leave the country. However, after reading this article, I cannot envision returning to Great Britain.

My God! What has happened to the land of my birth? So resolute and fearless in time of war (I was a child during WWII and not once did I witness hysteria from any adult, whether parent, aunt, uncle, neighbour or teacher) and the same resolve to not be deterred from going about the daily business of living was again displayed during acts of terrorism by the I.R.A. It seems to me that Big Brother government intruded as little as possible.

Have the fear and paranoia that Bush & Co. have instilled into the hearts and minds of the Americans who returned him to office (in the mistaken belief that he would protect them, when in fact his actions have spawned terrorists where there were none) infiltrated British government thinking? Please tell me that it is not so.

No living American had experienced an attack on American soil before 9/11, so one can forgive the resultant shock to the psyche of a nation that thought itself immune. Here, 9/11 is still seen as the ultimate offence, with scant attention being paid to the thousands of Iraqis who have died since the invasion who had nothing to do with 9/11 in the first place. This should not be so in Britain, a nation that has already proven itself unflappable when threatened. The thought of Brits losing their basic rights because of an overreactive and incompetent bureaucracy fills me with anger.