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Last month, the biggest demonstration in British history marched through the streets of London. About a million people (according to the police) and up to two million (according to the organisers) poured into Hyde Park to oppose going to war with Iraq.
Labour cabinet minister and leader of the House of Commons Robin Cook has resigned over the issue, and on 18 March, 217 MPs, including 139 Labour MPs, backed an amendment opposing the government's stance. However, the government's own motion authorising war was passed by a majority of 263, with 149 MPs voting against.
The country as a whole is split. The latest polls are contradictory. A YouGov poll for ITV and the Daily Telegraph shows 50% support for the war, with 42% opposed and 8% undecided. But an ICM poll for the Guardian shows 51% against and 35% in favour.
As this page was being prepared, our own special online poll showed that 55% of you believe that the case has NOT been made for war.
On the eve of war, VEE-TV talked to a few of you in the studio.
Creating hatred
Bello Ahmed, a 25-year-old Muslim, e-mailed us to say he thinks Bush and Blair should not be going ahead without the agreement of the United Nations (UN). 'America and Britain have basically broken international law and the trust of the UN,' he says. 'They're setting a bad example to the rest of the world.
'The American government has to stop this foolishness in going to war and offending other countries. They create more hatred between the Eastern and Western worlds.'
Fabrication
Manoz Joshi, who is Hindu, e-mailed VEE-TV with an even more critical view of the coalition preparing for war. 'The USA and UK say that Saddam Hussein has chemical and biological weapons and is a major threat to our world,' he says. 'Then you wonder where these weapons came from and how the USA and UK know so much about it? The only solution that I can offer is that they has supplied him with those weapons in 1980 for Iraq's war with Iran!
'Furthermore, the USA and UK claim that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, which is completely fabricated. The only country that has used that kind of weapon is the USA, when they dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. Are they a bunch of embarrassing idiots or what?'
All about oil?
Manoz calls the humanitarian motive for war – saving the Iraqi people from a ruthless dictator – 'pure war propaganda' and says the real reason for invasion is that 'they want to control Iraq's oil reserves – the second largest in the world – in order to recover from their current recession. You may think, "Huh that's nonsense!", but ask yourself why they haven't gone to war in the last 12 years and why they are now.'
However, the leaders of the US and the UK categorically deny that oil is a motive. Tony Blair recently promised that no one will touch Iraq's oil if Saddam goes.
Civilian deaths
Laura Dunkley, 23, is American and anti-war. She thinks that the 'war on terror' after 11 September will only lead to more deaths. 'I think it's sad about 11 September,' she says, 'but there are so many other people with lives. Bush should forget the war against terrorism and let it go so we can live our lives and not see dead bodies in the streets.'
Sumita Paul, 23, who is Hindu, worries that war 'could go on and on for years, and lots of innocent people would be killed.'
Forced to act?
In the parliamentary debate on 18 March, Mr Blair told MPs that Saddam Hussein would be strengthened 'beyond measure' if he isn't forced to disarm. And when Mr Blair went to meet the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, earlier this year, he said 'I understand exactly why people feel so strongly, but in the end, I have got to make a decision and that's the difference between leadership and commentary.'
Many of you agree that war is now necessary.
Robert Pritchard, 34, told VEE-TV that he agrees Saddam must be stopped – even if it means war. 'People seem to have forgotten how Saddam Hussein tested chemicals on his own people, using them like guinea-pigs,' he says. 'Time to teach Saddam some lessons.'
Lisa Vagnarelli, 21, also reluctantly believes war is now necessary. 'Obviously, many innocent people will be killed,' she says, 'even children who haven't seen life properly, which is really cruel. But, if we have to defend ourselves, that's how it has to be.'
The desire to be free
The people of Iraq are not allowed to say anything against Saddam, so it's difficult to ask them what they want. But there's general agreement that most would be glad to see him go.
Dennis Dillon, 24, from Ireland, agrees with the humanitarian justification offered for war. 'Saddam Hussein is cruel man killing his own people,' he says. 'We have to stop him.'
So, it seems that no one wants Saddam to stay, and no one wants innocent people to die. Adam Gibson, 24, a British Muslim, offers his solution:
'I think that a highly trained SAS sniper should find Saddam Hussein, shoot him and then go home.'
What do YOU think about war on Iraq and the British role in it? Hit the FEEDBACK button and let us know.
Books
Dreaming War: Blood for oil and the Cheney-Bush junta by Gore Vidal
(Clairview Books, January 2003) £9.95
Argues that corporate greed and US imperialism have been the driving themes
behind the new 'war on terror'.
Buy
this book from Amazon.
Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the new world order by Robert
Kagan (Atlantic Books, March 2003) £10
An examination of the recent strains in relations between the US and parts of
Europe.
Buy
this book from Amazon.
Saddam's Bombmaker: The inside story of Iraqi nuclear and biological weapons
agenda by Khidhir Hamza (Simon & Schuster, 2002) £10
A defector once responsible for Iraq's clandestine weapons programme says that
Iraq already has biological weapons and would be capable of completing a nuclear
weapon within months.
Buy
this book from Amazon.
The Threatening Storm: The case for invading Iraq by Kenneth Pollack
(Random House, February 2003) £18.99
An expert on the Middle East and Persian Gulf analyses the growing conflict
between the United States and Iraq, assessing the political, strategic, and
military forces at work in both nations and arguing the case for war.
Buy
this book from Amazon.
War on Iraq by Scott Ritter and William Rivers Pitt (Profile Books,
2002) £4.99
An explosive little book with an introduction detailing the recent history of
Iraq and Western intervention in the country, followed by a 50-page interview
with former weapons inspector Scott Ritter.
Buy
this book from Amazon.
War Plan Iraq by Milan Rai (Verso Books, 2002) £10
Argues that there is no evidence that the Iraqis have chemical weapons and that
the work of the weapons inspectors was deliberately undermined by the US government.
With an introduction by Noam Chomsky.
Buy
this book from Amazon.
Links
Arab News
www.arabnews.com
Saudi Arabia's first English daily, with lots of articles on Iraq.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Iraq
www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?
pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/
ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029394374
A statement of the government's policy.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office news
www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?
pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/
ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029391629
Includes the text of speeches by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Prime Minister
Tony Blair in the parliamentary debate on Iraq on 18 March, the Prime Minister's
address to the nation on 20 March, plus the attorney general's view on the legality
of using force.
The Muslim Association of Britain
www.mabonline.net
Articles, news and views on the Iraq crisis.
The Nuclear Posture Review – Reading between the lines
www.commondreams.org/views02/0117-10.htm
An article on the Bush administration's current policies on nuclear weapons
and nuclear testing.
President Bush's address to the US nation
www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/
2003/03/20030317-7.html
The text of President George Bush's televised address to the nation on 17
March 2003, in which he gave Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave Iraq.
Stop the War Coalition
www.stopwar.org.uk
Information on the campaign against the invasion of Iraq.
The Independent: Robert Fisk on the motives for war
http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/
story.jsp?story=370328
Argues that regime change in Iraq is an aim conceived five years ago by oil
men such as Vice President Dick Cheney.
United Nations Monitoring Verification and Inspection (UNMOVIC)
www.un.org/Depts/unmovic/index.htm
The history of the work of the UN's inspection team, with articles and information
about Hans Blix and the other weapons inspectors in Iraq.
Channel 4 Television takes no responsibility for the content of any third-party sites.