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CounterPunch
February
12, 2003
The Alternative
to War
Democratic Protest Can Avert
Calamity
by JEREMY BRECHER
Might does not make right. Neither does it provide
wisdom, beauty, friendship, or security. By brandishing its
might without wisdom, the Bush Administration has created an
ugly America that is turning America's friends against us and
undermining the true basis of our security.
In a few short months, the Bush Administration
has managed to do what the Soviet Union failed to do over generations:
isolate the US from its allies, drive a wedge into the heart
of NATO, turn America into a pariah for the world's people, and
put hostile countries like North Korea on the road to acquiring
nuclear weapons.
If the Bush Administration pushes forward
with its attack on Iraq, it will only further isolate America
and further unify the forces that now oppose it.
While some governments, notably in Southern
and Eastern Europe, are making a show of their support for the
US, polls show that their people oppose a US attack on Iraq just
as strongly as the rest of the world. In Britain, Italy, and
Spain, for example, 70-80 percent of the population oppose a
war on Iraq without UN approval.
In a recent poll, more Britons said the
US was the biggest threat to world peace that said Iraq was.
If Tony Blair tries to go to war without the endorsement of
the Security Council, his days are numbered. Bush's last major
ally will be plunged into a political or even a constitutional
crisis.
Global isolation is the inevitable consequence
of the Bush Administration's pursuit of global domination. The
Administration seems to believe that military might should make
it ok for the US it do anything it wants, including forcing the
world's other powers to accept its commands. That "arrogance
of power" has now met a predictable rejection--a global
"not ok."
The Bush administration's basic premise
is fatally flawed. Four percent of the world's people, no matter
how heavily armed, cannot rule the other 96 percent. Trying
to do so is a formula for unending conflict and ricocheting calamity.
Fortunately, the American people understand
this. That is why, despite the Administration's often-deceptive
PR campaign for war, they have insisted that the US deal with
Iraq through the UN, not through unilateral war.
If the Bush Administration gets America
into war--and open-ended occupation of Iraq--without support
of most major allies or the UN, the American people will wreak
vengeance--not on Iraq, but on those who have so wantonly damaged
the true basis of our security and well-being.
But why wait till catastrophe strikes?
This is a calamity waiting to be averted.
France, Germany, Russia, and China are
trying to help pull us back from the brink. They have joined
together to present an alternative to war based on expanded inspections.
The American people should be grateful for their efforts. And
we should demand that our own government join them.
The rest of the world is not seeking
to destroy the American people, but rather to partner with us
in addressing the real problems that threaten us all, from terrorism
to global warming, and from weapons of mass destruction to AIDS.
For a short time, we Americans still
have a choice. We can let the Bush Administration drag us into
a catastrophic war followed by a still more catastrophic occupation.
Or we can exercise our democratic right to protest so powerfully
and in such numbers that the Bush Administration realizes that
letting peace break out is the prerequisite for its own survival.
Jeremy Brecher
is a historian and the author of twelve books including STRIKE!
and GLOBALIZATION
FROM BELOW. He can be reached at: jbrecher@igc.org.
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