Michael Dewar

Dewar is a former Lt-col in the British Army who saw active service in the North of Ireland and subsequently wrote a book about the role of the British Army there (1985). He has been active in right wing think tanks and is regularly called on by the mainstream media as a terror or security expert.

Iraq as a cake walk

Peter Preston notes Dewar was amongst those paving the way for an invasion of Iraq by claiming an invasion would be quick:

The politicians and strategic planners were assuming quick triumph. 'We'll be greeted as liberators', said Vice-President Dick Cheney. Iraqis would hail our boys 'like the people of France in the 1940s', according to Paul Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld's deputy. Rumsfeld himself was informing press briefings that 'we can go it alone, without Britain' as recently as 12 March. A ring of total confidence. Well-briefed military commentators put the likely duration of the fighting at a single week (as Colonel Mike Dewar, the Daily Express's battle expert, bravely informed an audience of 90 editors last month).

Retail definition of 'terrorism'

Indeed, the tactic of attacking civilians helps to determine whether a group is terrorist or not, according to Colonel Mike Dewar, a former British army officer and now security analyst in London.

"Your methods determine if you are a terrorist," he said. "Targeting civilians is not a new phenomenon. The primary purpose of terrorist groups is to create terror in the population at large. The military should not, by definition, be terrorised." Civilians were the victims of the Tokyo sarin gas attacks in 1995. What is new perhaps is the scale of the attacks on civilians. Part of this is a product of technology.

"It is easier to get hold of explosives. There are better communications. Someone invented the car bomb. Somebody thought of flying planes into buildings," said Col Dewar.

Affiliations

• Defence Systems International consultant Editor
• Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies, 1996