Antiwar Deserter

The rebellion in Tony Blair's cabinet has been stopped by an unlikely champion: "international development" secretary Clare Short, who last week made a name for herself by threatening to resign if Britain went to war without a UN mandate. Now that Britain is going to war without a UN mandate, and others have started resigning, Short has reconsidered her decision. Ordinarily I'd admire the kid who tricks somebody else into jumping off a bridge, but Short's catalogue of excuses give new meaning to the word "puh-leeze." She has to stay on for post-war reconstruction, has to be there to "drive forward the Palestinian peace process," it would have been "cowardly" for her to quit, and so on. A more likely explanation was hinted at by reader Jim N, who noted here last week that Short was all about going into the Balkans back in the day. Like all good socialists, Short never met a war she didn't like. Thank goodness she found a way to love this one before it was too late!