The enemies of truth

Not since the end of the war, and the flight of Saddam Hussein, have the skies of Baghdad been so illuminated with gunfire. Uday and Qusay, the tyrant’s princes, have at last been found, and the heavens themselves tell forth their death. The Iraqis are jubilant, and no wonder. In their sadism, egomania, luxury and pride, the sons of Saddam incarnated all that was most disgusting about his regime. For President Bush and Tony Blair, it is an important moment of relief, a tangible sign of the regime change that was promised the Iraqi people, and which has been the most important success of the war. We may not yet have found Saddam, but at least his two most monstrous lieutenants can no longer bully or torture the population. No one could conceivably mourn the passing of these brutes. This is unambiguously a good- news story.

Somewhere, however, somebody on some newsdesk – it may even be at the BBC – will be wondering whether there are any questions to ask, and whether there might not be a provocative angle. Some journalist will already be assembling, in his or her mind, the case against the American military. Evil though Uday and Qusay may have been, was it right to shoot them in this way? Was it necessary, once they had been located, to direct six hours’ worth of mortar and heavy machine-gun fire at a villa which was wholly surrounded? Was it necessary to kill a 14-year-old child? The answer to these questions, by the way, is almost certainly yes. Commonsensical people will feel that it was better to neutralise the pair immediately, rather than knocking on the door and offering to read them the Miranda.