Iraq Follow

US WARPLANES dropped 500-pound bombs and fired heavy artillery rounds in the Iraqi city of Tikrit last Friday. Each of those bombs was far bigger than those used to resist the occupation forces by Iraqis labelled as "terrorists" by the US and British.

A US group, Bring Them Home Now, is made up of military families, veterans, those on active service, and reservists.

SEVENTY FIVE percent of people across Europe now believe the war against Iraq was wrong.

THE PENTAGON has apparently reallocated large numbers of military experts hunting for those elusive weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to other duties.

THE LATEST death toll of US soldiers in Iraq has sent shockwaves through the US establishment.

"We in the anti-war movement warned of the chaos the occupation of Iraq would bring. Tragically we are being proved right."

ONE OF the most common questions that people ask me is, "Why did Tony Blair go so far in backing George W Bush's war on Iraq?" It's not hard to tell a story about US interests, but what's in it for Britain? An important part of the answer lies in the long term strategy that the British ruling class has pursued ever since the Second World War. By attaching itself closely to the mighty US, Britain could continue play a role as a global power.

LAST SUNDAY Blair faced a real challenge as over 30,000 students took to the streets to protest against university tuition fees. The demonstration was far larger than any recent student marches. The war in Iraq has left more than Blair's heart in a weak condition. He faces massive revolts in his own party and in the nation at large over a whole range of issues.

The dilemmas of Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, were beautifully summed up in an interview he gave last weekend. In an interview with John Humphrys on the Today programme, Williams came close to saying that the war against Iraq had been immoral. Then, terrified by the implication of this statement, Williams' officials demanded that this portion of the interview should not be broadcast – and the BBC agreed.

TAWDRY, CORRUPT, opportunist and right wing. That's the way all the major parties look this week. Tony Blair, as part of the much bigger lies about the Iraq war, denied that he had any hand in "outing" Dr David Kelly's name to the press. Yet on Monday Sir Kevin Tebbit, Britain's top civil servant, said, "The decision was taken at the meeting in Number Ten at a meeting chaired by the prime minister."

SIX MONTHS after the fall of Baghdad, the conquerors of Iraq are in trouble on both sides of the Atlantic. Tony Blair's difficulties are well known, but now it is the turn of George W Bush and his advisers to come under the spotlight.

STEVEN ROSE is one of Britain's best-known scientists and he has written many popular books on science. He is a lifelong socialist and a politically committed activist, opposing the US war on Vietnam in the 1960s through to opposing the war on Iraq.