Arrogant, not brave
From Jolyon Connell Sir: Michael Gove is heartened by the leftwing writers who have denounced Islamic terrorism rather than seeking to make excuses for it (All hail the new anti-Islamist intelligentsia', 27 January). Fair enough. But he also seems pleased that such a number of them backed the Iraq war. He calls these writers brave.
Brave is not the word I'd use. Invading Iraq was always likely to appeal to left-wing intellectuals. Its most fervent supporters were the American neocons, many of whom, after all, were one-time left-wing Democrats. The idea of creating a new promised land in the Middle East was arrogant, naive, impractical and almost certain to be counter-productive — the hallmarks of many a failed socialist enterprise.
Which is why, as opinion polls suggested before the war began, more Conservative voters than Labour voters opposed it, as of course did most thoughtful conservative politicians on both sides of the Atlantic. And which is why, looking at the hideous mess that some on the Left still desperately go on trying to justify, many of us would like to see the return of a sensible, pragmatic Conservative government. If the opposition front bench listen to the likes of Michael Gove, we will have a long wait.
I have always been convinced, incidentally, that whatever anyone says now, Lady Thatcher, faced with the same 'evidence' that faced Tony Blair, would not just have kept Britain out of this war but would have told George Bush exactly what was wrong with his plan, as she told Ronald Reagan what she thought about his plans for Star Wars, Libya, Grenada, etc.
Jolyon Connell Lacock, Wiltshire From John Laughland Sir: It was a pleasure to see Michael Gove MP confirming my long-held view that the anti-Islamist neoconservatism to which he subscribes is a left-wing political philosophy. I have long argued that George Bush's commitment to a 'global democratic revolution' is music to the ears of the string of (former?) Trotskyites whom Gove now says he admires.
But I was a little confused to read his encomium of Christopher Hitchens's attacks on the 'anti-war rabble' for being prepared to see Bosnia and Kosovo 'cleansed and annexed by Greater Serbia'. Those of us who remain proud members of that rabble today recall with fondness the strident denunciations of the Kosovo war which appeared in the columns of the Times in 1999, penned by none other than the current Hon. Member for Surrey Heath.
John Laughland Bath
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