LONDON -- For the first time that I can remember, the prevailing political mood in Britain is one of vindication and vindictiveness. Almost everybody who took sides over the war in Iraq now feels they are right, and wants the other side to bow down and acknowledge it.
The success, or failure, of the invading coalition troops vindicates their position, for or against the war. And because the weeks of the debate have been so intense, few can now let go their position and drift in the seas of uncertainty and doubt. Each needs the other side to acknowledge its wrongness to boost its own need for rightness. Each feels like punishing the other side if it fails to own up to being wrong.
In the weeks before the war in Iraq, and continuing until the fall of Baghdad, a surprising number of people did take sides. Most were against the war. Those who were for it were numerically a minority but dominant politically. And, of course, there were a lot of undecided.