I'm getting more and more cheesed off with this idea that going to war with Iraq is the only way to deal with the situation. I have to admit that I'm slightly puzzled about what the situation is anyway. Why, after all these years, is Iraq suddenly seen as such a risk? Why is Hussein such a monster and not Ariel Sharon, who presides over the state-sponsored terrorism going in in Israel/Paletine every day?What, exactly, is going to be achieved by bombing innocent men, women and children - people who have been suffering for years because of the sanctions we put on them after the Gulf War of the 90s?

I’m not totally naïve, I know that war sometimes is unavoidable, but only ever as a final resort. In this case I don;’t believe that we have got to that stage, there are other, peaceful, options that can be followed:

(1) Lift the sanctions on Iraq. The Iraqi people have been starved into submission. During the Gulf War schools, hospitals, medical centres, water purification centres and food production factories were flattened. The combination of that and the sanctions means that there have been shortages in food, medical supplies and even clean water in the last ten years, and over a million people – most of them children – have died as a direct result of these shortages. The sanctions empower Saddam Hussein because he is in control of what supplies there are – the people have to bow to him to be able to survive. Lift the sanction and the people will become stronger and more able to rebel against Hussein and his regime.

(2) Try Hussein as a war criminal. Isn’t he exactly the kind of person the International War Court exists to prosecute? Tell him he has two options – leave Iraq and live in exile as a free man, or face arrest for hi numerous crimes against humanity. If he stays, send in a UN peacekeeping force to remove him.

(3) Leave the weapons inspectors in place – in fact, increase the number, just to keep the pressure on. If there are enough inspectors there monitoring the situation and supervising disarmament, things can never get out of hand.

(4) Instead of spending billions of pounds/dollars on killing people, give it to the Iraqi people. Help them to rebuild their country, and in return they will overthrow Hussein. The Iraqi people don’t want him; they are just too weak at present to do anything else about him.

(5) Sort out the problems with Israel and Palestine first.. That is a more pressing problem and poses more of a threat to the state of the Middle East and the world than Iraq. If the Iraqis see the west helping their fellow Arabs, they are more likely to comply.

(6) Support Saddam’s opponents. Change should come from inside the country, not outside, and if they have support, both financial and spiritual, from the world they will be in a better position to force change within their country.

But of course my suggestions won’t do. They aren’t exciting enough. They don’t leave America to claim the glory and hero status. They don’t allow America exclusive access to Iraq’s oilfields. Yet they do fulfil the supposed objectives of this Iraq situation – they remove the regime, disarm the weapons, stop the humanitarian crisis. So why won't they be implemented? Why are we told day after day, week after week, by Blair and Bush that there is no alternative, we have to invade, it's all in the name of humanity? As far as I can see there are four reasons why they want to go to war - to get revenge on someone - anyone - for September 11th, to take over the oilfields, to finish off what Daddy Bush couldn't do, and to prove to the world that America is a force to be recognised - a bully, in other words. That’s why I am so against this war.