Is this war going out of control?

George Bush and Tony Blair were united yesterday in their determination “to defeat this evil”. The prime minister was adamant that “there must be no holding back, no compromise, no hesitation in confronting this menace, in attacking it wherever and whenever we can and in defeating it utterly”. The president claimed, again, that the struggle against Al-Qaeda and its allies is being won. But the evidence suggests otherwise. The blood and rubble in the streets of Istanbul, for the second time in a week, tells a different story… There appears no shortage of recruits; there is certainly no shortage of “soft” targets. As in Istanbul last Saturday, as in Bali, Djerba, Mombasa, Jakarta, Karachi, Riyadh and again in Iraq yesterday, this does not look like an enemy in post-9/11 retreat. This does not look like a war that is being won…

Mr Bush and Mr Blair have made many mistakes since 9/11. There is an urgent need for a radical review of policy. But in the teeth of such terror, there must also be solidarity… There is no case for surrender. But there is a very strong case for a more intelligent, less confrontational, combined east-west approach to an intensifying global crisis.

(Excerpted from an editorial in ‘The Guardian’, November 21)