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Jump to full article: Electronic Telegraph blogs (uk), 2009-09-03
Author: Gerald Warner
Intro: At last, definitive proof that we have successfully exported "our values" to Iraq: the Iraqi government is proposing to ban smoking in public places, including public sector buildings, offices, theatres, clubs and public transport. Tobacco advertising is also to be prohibited. Whitehall despots will regard this great reform as complete vindication of Tony Blair’s intervention in Iraq, dodgy dossier and all. . . . .
It mirrors the experience of Britain, where town centres are no-go areas for law-abiding citizens, the elderly are effectively under curfew – in the worst areas, under permanent house arrest – but the full enforcement energies of the state are directed towards eradicating smoking.
The proposal is to deprive Iraqi citizens of one of the few freedoms they enjoyed under Saddam Hussein. It will be an enlightening experience for those Iraqis who foolishly equated Western-style government with liberty. Now they are learning the harsh reality: when "democracy" arrives, freedom departs. Buoyed up by this success, the Thought Police must be getting ready to target Iraqi "climate change deniers".
The one slug in this politically correct salad is that this totalitarian proposal has not a snowflake’s chance in hell of getting through the Iraqi parliament: it will unceremoniously be thrown out. When that happens, it will be time for us in Britain to reflect: which of the two countries is the more mature democracy?
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