RW ONLINE: George Bush's Worst Week\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nGeorge Bush's Worst Week\r\n<\/p>
Revolutionary Worker #1189, February 2, 2003<\/i>, posted at rwor.org<\/p>\r\n
We received the following article from A World to Win News \r\nService:<\/i><\/p>\r\n<\/i>
February 17, 2003. It was George Bush's worst week since he declared war \r\non the world after September 11. First the UN Security Council refused to back \r\nthe U.S.'s call for war without delay. Then the next day and in the days \r\nfollowing, in a magnificent outpouring of the world's people, millions upon \r\nmillions took to the streets, including in scores of cities in the U.S.<\/p>\r\n
The protests were especially enormous in Britain, Spain, Italy and Australia, \r\nthe countries whose governments are most closely aligned with Bush. London had \r\nnot seen so many people in the street since the end of World War 2; the crowds \r\nin Spain were bigger than at any time since the celebration of the end of \r\nfascism. Further, February 15 was also historic in the extent of these \r\nsimultaneous actions, stretching through 600 cities in Asia, Africa and Latin \r\nAmerica as well as the wealthy countries. It has been proven beyond any doubt \r\nthat the people of the world are opposed to this war and that if Bush and other \r\nleaders go ahead with it anyway, they can expect an unprecedented storm on a \r\nworld scale.<\/p>\r\n
The February 14 Security Council meeting was a big setback for the U.S. It \r\nwas a personal humiliation for Colin Powell, Bush's would-be diplomatic weapon \r\nof mass destruction. His presentation of America's case against Saddam Hussein \r\nto that body a week earlier was explicitly rejected and implicitly ridiculed. \r\nEven one of Powell's most puffed-up moments then, when he brandished \r\nspy-in-the-sky photos to prove that Iraq is moving around and hiding weapons to \r\nevade inspections, was deflated. Chief chemical and biological weapons inspector \r\nHans Blix argued that the scene shown in the pictures \"could just as easily have \r\nbeen a routine activity\". In the debate following, 11 out of the 15 Security \r\nCouncil members agreed, to one extent or another, with France's proposal that \r\nthe inspections should continue. The U.S.'s hopes to introduce a resolution \r\nendorsing immediate military action collapsed. A meeting of the five permanent \r\nSecurity Council members with veto power that was supposed to follow this debate \r\ndid not even take place.<\/p>\r\n
At home, Bush responded with his own version of Goebbel's Big Lie, the \r\nprinciple that if you say anything loud and often enough, some people will \r\nbelieve it. He played the \"terrorism\" card, fabricating a link between Saddam \r\nHussein and al-Qaeda and organizing hysteria on a mass scale in an effort to \r\nmake some Americans believe that this war will not be naked aggression but \r\nself-defense. Some people bought the government's efforts to make them believe \r\nthat their family's lives are in danger from monsters under every bed. A great \r\nmany others refused to seal their lips and minds with duct tape and demonstrated \r\ninstead. Hundreds of thousands massed in front of the UN headquarters in New \r\nYork despite threats and some attacks from mounted police. This protest included \r\npeople of all social classes and family members of people killed in the attack \r\non the World Trade Center, Bush's pretext for launching a global rampage.<\/p>\r\n
Politically it would be extremely difficult for the U.S. to launch this war \r\nwithout some sort of international alliance. Further, British troops are a major \r\nand integral part of the war plan, as are US bases in Italy and military \r\nfacilities in Spain. Yet these governments are in such a flagrant split with the \r\npeople of their countries that the Spanish newspaper <\/i><\/p>
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