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My view on Iraq

Saddam Hussein is bad, but he's not mad. For six decades, British and American governments have claimed deterrence works when you're dealing with sane leaders, however bad they are: the system is based on Mutually Assured Destruction - whereby a country under attack will use its weapons in response. Thirdly, this means that, unless we have been lied to for the last 60 years, we CAN contain Saddam Hussein using deterrence, just as we have for the majority of the 20th century. In my view, he's most likely to use his weapons when attacked. The irony of the situation is that we could CAUSE Iraq to lash out by abandoning the containment strategy. And, worst of all, we could prompt international terrorism at the same time. The inspections were beginning to work. We've picked the very worst time to give up on them now.

Lembit Opik MP

P for Montgomeryshire and Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats