Yes I have just posted the same editorial to marxism at lists.panix.com as I agree this it is a significant shift. I also have a vested interest in widening the scope of debate there since I post under the need to censor my words in case I may be removed for allegedly promoting a pro-NATO line.
This editorial was actually in the Saturday Guardian, but the Observer is owned by the Guardian trust, and it is clearly authoritative.
The Guardian-Observer group provided the main intellectual thrust on the left in Britain for the justice of this war, and its shift here will also shift the political ground on which Tony Blair locates himself.
But Doug's paraphrase is not correct in attributing the position to cruise-missile liberals. As the editorial makes clear, it was in favour of an early ground invasion in support of the fight of the Kosovar Albanians against ethnic cleansing. It has never been in favour of extensive bombing of Yugoslavia as whole.
I would caution people from transposing the political situation across different countries. Apart from the fact that you think liberals are crypto socialists, the term "cruise missile liberals" may better fit someone like Dennis Hastert (also in favour of freedom for tobacco capital) who has just stepped forward to rally Congress to *double* Clinton's request for war funds, one week after refusing to support ground troops in Kosovo.
At least the Guardian-Observer position was always that in order to fight Serb fascism, Britain should be prepared to put British soldiers lives at risk, if that was going to be the most appropriate way to reduce suffering.
Chris Burford
London