[Hicks]

I think the people of Scotland were in a position to object to some of the crimes that you listed. Many of those have occurred during a time of considerable political freedom yet I've rarely seen Scottish people out in force protesting against them despite making up a disproportionately large amount of the armed forces.

Scotland as an independent country wouldn't have had the capacity to go to war with Iraq, it would be about as relevant as New Zealand (England wouldn't be much better placed). I also think that it's impossible to make any predictions about how Scotland would have responded to the Iraq war had it been independent, I don't think anyone can say make up of Scotland would have evolved had it not been part of the Union or been granted independence at a much earlier date.