USA/UK - Iraq conflict: index of articles by Nick Megoran
Wootton Bassett and the political spaces of remembrance and mourning.
From 2007 the English village of Wootton Bassett emerged as a site to honour British military personnel killed in action. Repatriation ceremonies developed from a spontaneous act by the citizens of the town into an informal site of national respect for the armed forces. Initially cited by the media as an example to shame the country for its lack of respect for the military, it became both a space for public displays of grief and a site of political contention about British involvement in the Afghanistan war. Although it opened spaces for critical reflection on UK foreign policy, the Wootton Bassett phenomenon should be seen as part of a trend of the rehabilitation of the military in the aftermath of the Iraq war. The paper thus contributes to emergent debates about the militarisation of civilian space, and about the shifting nature of civil-military relations as a consequence of the two wars in which the UK has been engaged over the past decade. It concludes with a call for geographers to pay more attention to the formation and dissolution of spontaneous, immaterial and temporary sites of memory.
Published in Area, 44(3), pp. 356-363.
I Lied About Iraq
An election stunt / intervention to highlight the importance of the Iraq war as a measure of Tony blair's leadership, reminding voters that he misled parliament and the public in leading us into the immoral, illegal and unjust invasion of Iraq.
Debate: Was it worth it?
A debate in the aftermath of the US-UK invasion of Iraq, between Rabbi Julian Sinclair and Dr Nick Megoran, of Cambridge university.
Published in The Cambridge Student, June 2003
Geopolitics, risk, and the invasion of Iraq
A letter exchange with Prof Robert Lerman
Published in Financial Times , June 2003.
Peace without end
The account of a eucharist of repentence held by Christians from Cambridge at the gates of RAF Lakenheath, on the Sunday after the US and UK attacked Iraq in March 2003. Includes a photograph of the event.
This War has Barely Begun
Letter to Cambridge Evening News, 19th April 2003, following television images of US troops pulling down a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.
Pre-emption Perforce? A Reply to Chris Seiple
Chris Seiple, head of the Christian think tank Global Engagement, wrote an article entitled 'Guns, Government and God' setting out an argument as to why Christians ought to support the concept of warfare in general (using just war theory) and war on Iraq in particular. He invited myself and Marc de Chazal, a South African Christian writer, to repsond. Our piece follows his closely, critically engaging with his use of scripture and ideology. Taken alongside each other, these two pieces would form a useful start for a church or small-group discussion on whether Christians can engage in war."
Originally posted on the website of the Institute for Global Engagement in February 2003.
Why are Christians opposing this war?
A pamphlet produced for Cambridge's vigil for peace, part of an event called by Desmond Tutu and the US National Council of Churches, and held in 140 countries on March 16th: edit, print, and fold.
Axis of evil: the new domino effect
A short geopolitical satire posted on the Critical Geography email discussion list, February 11, 2003
Why we oppose this war
A speech delivered on behalf of Campeace at the Cambridge Stop-the-War Coalition rally in the market square, Cambridge, on Saturday 1st February, 2003
Solving the Iraq crisis
A 'stream of concsiousness' about alternative ways of understanding, and addressing, the current USA-Iraq crisis (a long (3000 word PDF file)
Should We Attack Iraq?
20 Questions and answers, and three questions to those who support an attack on Iraq
Posted on the Campeace website December 2002.
Let Those Without Sin
Churches in Cambridge and around the world oppose war against Iraq. A report on opposition to war on the part of US and UK churches, with a focus on Cambridge. Opposition is based on traditional 'just war' theory arguments, but also on an increasing appeal to the New Testament theology of non-violence that suggests that 'those without sin can cast the first stone.'
Originally published in November 2002 in CitizenCam journal