Dawn Fyfe - Voice of Dissent

Published 10 Feb 2010 12:00

AS I watched Tony Blair scratch around in the dirt for excuses as for the number of Iraq civilians killed by our forces, he astounded even me by his blatant lack of responsibility and blamed "terrorists" for all of the deaths.

This is a man who appears to have no conscience or regret.

Every day we hear about the continuing rise in death toll of British soldiers, but what do we expect - we are at war.

Do we really believe that the bombs dropped by our forces killed no-one?

This column is used to highlight local issues, and this a local issue.

Scotland has seen the biggest rise in the number of young people joining the army in the UK.

We also know that working class young people with few options are the most likely to join.

So it is our young people who are most at risk of going to war at the will of a bunch of war mongering egotists.

One of Blair's legacies is that he is the Prime Minister who has taken us to war more times than any other, and rather than regretting his actions, he used his time giving evidence at the Chilcot enquiry to suggest that going to war with Iran is a sensible next step.

Furthermore, it costs a fortune.

So while our services are being cut, we are piling billions of taxpayers' money into destroying other countries and lives.

We should also be aware that although cuts in services in West Dunbartonshire will be felt worst by the most vulnerable in our community, cuts in other areas, such as Glasgow, also affect us.

The Women's Support Project is an organisation that supports abused women and children, and who have just suffered a 100 per cent cut in funding.

This organisation is not only open to, but is used often by, women living in West Dunbartonshire.

Furthermore they have hugely influenced how services are provided across Scotland.

Losses like these not only prevent women and children from accessing important services, but prevents all services from gaining the skills and knowledge to provide the effective services women and children need.

Vital organisations like these are having to send out public appeals for donations just to provide a service that has, year-on-year, surpassed everything that has been asked of them.

So while our elected representatives play at bully-boy with other countries, the lives of women and children in Scotland are put at risk.

It is an election year this year and if we want our communities to survive we have to vote for those who prioritise our lives over profit from oil, and who have the vision to see that waging war against other countries does not protect us, but gains us more enemies.

We only have to look at the 'security' measures being put into place to know that we are less safe now than when this current war started.

Job well done? I do not think so.

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This article appeared in Clydebank Post 10 Feb 10

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