Of course the other thing they said about George Washington was that he was a traitor and a terrorist. Which in a sense was true enough, but wasn't quite the whole story.

Historical analogies can set you thinking, but they can never settle an argument, because history doesn't repeat itself. It's really no more helpful drawing up lists of ways in which Saddam's regime and situation has similarities with Hitler than it does to do the same for Bush, with his "my patience is exhausted" speeches and all.

I haven't seen any evidence whatsoever that in the present circumstances Iraq poses any kind of threat to the United States or to Europe, or indeed to his immediate neighbours. I'm glad that inspection teams are likely to go into Iraq with a view to eliminating any Weapons of Mass Destruction; and the sooner similar teams with a similar mandate go into a lot of other countries, including the one I live in, the better.

And I dearly wish that people in power could focus their attention on the real threats, famine top priority, terrorism next, and could work imaginatively and energetically to avert disaster and to eliminate the things that are pushing us in that direction.