The Mark of Cain

I met Man who hates America on the same day I watched Mark of Cain, on Channel 4.

Of course, it's easy to blame Bush and Blair for the mess that is Iraq. or my particular favourite, Rumsfeld. But I speak as someone who initially (and reluctantly) supported the war. I believed Blair in that toppling Saddam was preferable to sitting by and watching. I believed in the threat from Al Qaeda too, and that it had to be addressed after 9/11. I did not believe it was about oil.

I believe that America and Britain have a moral responsibility to act as forces for good in the world and I believe that it's too easy to stand by and criticise and do nothing whilst genocide takes place. I still do, in fact.

I believe that stance in itself means making difficult decisions which are themselves human, and wrong. But that is no excuse for not taking them. I see anti-war protesters as cop outs. Who isn't anti-war?

Of course, since then it has all gone terribly wrong, with the failure to secure law and order and basic services in the early days leading to the Iranian-backed insurrection that we see today. After Guantanamo, and the scandal of contract work for the reconstruction, people like Man who hates America crow that they were right all along. Well, maybe they were. But I won't be a hypocrite.

Watching the Mark of Cain tonight reminded me of the impossible situation that our services operate in. How can these young men deal with such impossible circumstances, day in day out? Is standing by and criticising the right way to proceed now? What would people have us do now we are in this situation - simply withdraw?

One thing is for sure. Seeing this mess so brilliantly depicted, even the idea of abusing Iraqi prisoners - somewhere I could safely withdraw to my own self-righteousness - made me realise that it's impossible even to judge the people who did it. It is an impossible situation. Of course, it is right to pursue and root out the senior officers, who knew it was happening. And of course it's right to condemn the practice of torture.

But condemn the young lads who did it? Not me. Not any more.