In my opinions regarding Sinapan’s article, I believe Singapore should not be afraid to ally itself with its allies should they be on a justified stand. We must always remain loyal to our allies should their stand be right and not cowed away from them in times of support, especially if they have given us similar support. This does not simply imply to US but to whichever countries which commit humanitarian actions. Besides this, should the war on Iraq be justified, we must not be afraid to play our part as global citizens against oppressors who hide behind religion, ideologies and nationalities.

As for Harrison Ee’s article, firstly he wrote we should not give in to JI as they have long maneuvered before US tabled resolution 1441. It has to be noticed at this stage that resolution 1441 is tabled regarding Iraq crisis and it had nothing to do with JI. There is yet to be any evidence to link terrorists network with Iraq. Then again, we should not send US packing just because of JI threats, as we would be unprincipled in doing so.

Secondly, he claimed it is wrong to push all the blames to US as it takes both Palestinians and Israelites to resolve the Middle East crisis. True, all conflicts require all parties to agree to whatever is to be tabled. However, the stage of tabling any terms is far from now. Instead, Israelites have been absorbing territories, slaughtering Palestinians day in day out denying any UN resolution. On the other hand, Palestinians have retaliated with stones and suicide bombers. Then, I still believe Israelites with its entire military might and territorial expansions have the upper hand to ceasefire but prefer to mow Palestinians with their tanks. As for current Bush government, its only call is hoping Israelites to stop its oppressive actions but not condemning or intervening this abuse of humanity.

Thirdly, Harrison insisted Singapore should formulate our own sovereignty decisions and not see a war against Iraq as a war against Muslims. Agreed, we should stand tall should our decisions be based on what is justified though it would be favourable for us to ally with our neighbours. A war on Iraq might not be a war on Muslims yet the fine line is so easily breached. Pre-Afghanistan strike, Bush had verbally slipped a few times calling Pakistani as Pakis and comparing it as a Crusade. Now, Arabs in US have to be forcefully registered and undergo discriminative rules. Hence if the world leader has displayed certain discriminative actions, should not we be cautious of this war?

Next, Harrison wrote the necessity of stable and strong US presence and us not being a direct ally of US. I like to note during WWII, Great Britain was our strong presence, even creating an ‘impregnable fortress’ in our island. As history has recorded, it simply fell because they were not interested in protecting us. Likewise, if we are not direct allies of US, not sharing this relationship as of UK, stable and strong US presence might not ultimately count for anything. In additional to this, some countries like Philippines and South Korea have popular decisions against US military presence.

Finally, Harrison expressed his wish for utopia while noting our historical existences are like two couples bound to have differences and friction. Yes, couples do have differences and friction but not all “led to many sorry and sympathetic cases of wife abuse or manslaughering”. Only couples who refuse to resolve issues properly and commit things as they please cause these crimes. Why not seek a marriage counsellor, UN in resolving this than US led war? In the first place, what has this got to do with US? It was not interested in ending Saddam rule straight after Kuwait’s liberation, North Korea exposing its nuke threat like an exhibitionist. Why more on Iraq than anyone else now? I believe at this point it is important to note Afghanistan is once again under threats of breeding terrorist network after US withdrew its interest in them after carpet bombing it. Afghanistan going back to square one just like after Russia’s withdrawal? What then was US’s main intention of bombing them in the first place?

We will not reach total peace, justice and dignity because people in power often corrupt. What I think though is how we look at individual issues and try justifying them while looking at possible macro achievement of humanity. How can wars that carpet bomb innocent be justified? The war will definitely go ahead, Saddam will be removed but I believe never to be caught and on newspaper will soon emerge how US would be giving aid to Iraq. And if anything allows our memory to sustain about this war, Iraq in years to come will continue to suffer because they would be busy selling oil in dirt-cheap prices to US than to self-suffice. While in years ago, poor innocent Iraqis had died without making the world any better place and another country will soon be bombed.

As like both Sinapan and Harrison, I too hope for total peace and respect for humankind. And for this to at least work on is not to jump into violence before all UN means have been exhausted. After all Saddam is evil and Bush’s intentions are skeptical and a war now will only trigger more violence to come. I believe and hope my country, Singapore will ally itself with justified actions based on humanity not nationality.