ONCE bitten twice shy is a lesson you learn in the schoolyard that stays with you for life.

And Tony Blair hit the nail on the head when he alluded to this worldly wise saying in explaining why the masses of Iraq have not so far risen up against Saddam Hussein.

The Prime Minister was right when he said that the citizens of Iraq have been let down in the past. To my mind this was a criticism of George Bush Snr and other world leaders in 1991.

They may have liberated Kuwait but they failed to push on to Baghdad and liberate Iraq from Saddam Hussein. I do not believe Tony Blair will make the same mistake. To my mind the suffering of the Iraqi people over many years appears to have been completely overlooked by those who continue to protest against Britain and America's stance.

Sanctions will never work because Saddam simply does not care whether his people die: if he did he would have abided by the numerous UN directives over the past decade and placed his people's suffering ahead of his own ego years ago.

Rather than ignore his doubters, Tony Blair has met them head on in debates and answered every question thrown at him. I think now it is time for those who continue to attack the Prime Minister's stance to face similar tough questioning.

They have had their chance to convince the nation and failed; Parliament has backed the Prime Minister. Britain, America and its allies have taken a stance against evil, we are at war and there is no place for mealy-mouthed appeasement. You either support the troops or you do not.

The increasingly childish protests have become an unnecessary burden for the emergency services who have far more pressing matters to deal with. To continue to argue against the attacks on Iraq is effectively to support the Saddam regime and its mass slaughter of innocent civilians, the use of rape and torture by the state to keep dissidents in line and the threat a madman with access to weapons of mass destruction poses to the free world.

And still we wait for those who criticise military action against Saddam to come up with a credible alternative.

Of course lessons must be learned from every conflict. The UN must learn that from now on, if it wants to police the world, it has to back its resolutions up with action or face ridicule. Saddam Hussein has ignored the UN for 13 years and still the supposed protector of world safety has done nothing.

Of major concern is the number of deaths that once again have resulted from friendly fire. At the last count 20 British servicemen have died in this war but 18 of these have been killed by their own side.

Compared with the last Gulf War, the Allied forces have become far better at distinguishing between military and civilian targets in the streets of Iraq. Now we need to develop a system to ensure far greater distinction between the enemy and troops from our own side.

Published: 28/03/2003