12 April 2012
Evening Standard editorial comment

Partly at the prompting of Mr Tony Blair, President Bush is now rightly seeking to build an international coalition at the United Nations against Iraq. In so doing, he raises the stakes for the 57-year-old organisation. The UN's forerunner, the League of Nations, was destroyed by its impotence when it failed to stand up to Japanese, German and Italian aggression in the 1930's. Were the United Nations to fail in the current crisis, it could prove equally fatal to today's world body. Time and again, Iraq has defied Security Council resolutions.

If the Council cannot effectively enforce its decisions, the outlook for a new world order based on the rule of law will be bleak indeed. Twelve years ago the Security Council rose to the challenge of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Resolution 678 set a deadline for Iraqi withdrawal, and authorised members states to "use all necessary means" to eject the Iraqis should they not meet the deadline. This created the legal framework for the Gulf War. A similar resolution is now needed for the re-admission of arms inspectors. If Iraq obeys in full, then the UN would be right to decline to authorise military action against Baghdad. But for the demand to have any chance of being obeyed by Saddam Hussein, the threat of UN-authorised military action must be credible.

It is in the interests of all of us that the United Nations is central, both to the effort to end the current crisis peacefully and to any decision to use force if Iraq continues to be obdurate.

Killer bugs

It has already given the PHLS (which monitors infectious diseases in order to limit their spread) six months to transfer its staff and premises to the NHS. The Government describes this as "modernisation"; the scientists call it an act of vandalism. Wherever the truth lies, it is plainly nonsensical to embark on this reorganisation now. The smooth running of these public services has never been more essential, yet such drastic reforms will inevitably lead to high staff turnover and the loss of expertise built up over more than 50 years.

In its inordinate desire to make everything and everyone accountable to central government, New Labour refuses to acknowledge that centralisation is the enemy of established expertise. To run the risk of losing experienced scientists with established procedures and international contacts at a time like this is criminally irresponsible. Mr Milburn should keep his "modernisation? in abeyance, at least until the war-clouds have blown over.

Hunting foxes

For Downing Street to have to waste time and political capital on this matter in a parliamentary session when a war potentially involving thousands of British troops is being contemplated and a decision looms on whether to join the euro, is absurd. As the Countryside Alliance's planned march on London approaches, Mr Michael must make use of the conflicts in scientific evidence to demonstrate that, however strong the feelings involved, there are insufficient grounds for a ban and that some form of licensing is the only legitimate recourse.

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