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Politics : Stop the War! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bald Eagle who wrote (2313)	3/24/2003 11:49:23 AM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21614

Would you prefer a radical fundamentalist islamic regime in Iraq?

To: Bald Eagle who wrote (2313)	3/24/2003 11:52:48 AM
From: Karen Lawrence	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 21614

From MEDIOCRE BRITAIN Maria Margaronis London thenation.com Outside the House of Commons on Thursday evening a middle-aged woman held up a photograph of an Iraqi soldier reduced to a smudge of carbon but for his head and feet--an image from the last Gulf War. "He's the same age as my son," she said, almost in tears. "I put a lot into bringing up my son." She'd come from Redbridge, a London suburb not known for its radicalism. "We're not political animals," the man with her confirmed. "But this comes from the heart. We're being patronized by Tony Blair--how can we follow George Bush? I just feel utterly disgusted." Many of us expected the protests in Britain to die down once war had started and the media switched into we're-backing-our-boys mode. Not a bit of it. Spontaneous demonstrations broke out across the country in response to the Stop the War Coalition's call for a 12 o'clock walkout from work, school or college on the first day of the invasion. In Leeds, protesters closed the main motorway; in Manchester several thousand young people blocked the city center. Medical staff left hospitals; town councillors and civil servants marched out of government offices, including the deputy prime minister's. Many hundreds of kids converged on Westminster from London colleges and high schools, showing that the young are back in politics with a vengeance, high on that heady mix of joy at their own rebellion and horror at the war. The huge demonstration in London on February 15 had a hopeful, generous, almost festive feeling. Now that Blair has gone to war against the will of half his party and most of the population, the mood has darkened and turned angrier. By Thursday evening scores of policemen stood shoulder to shoulder in Parliament Square to protect the people's representatives from their constituents' rage. Signs appealing to "Mr. Blair" had given way to chants of "Blair Out." Insistent drumbeats built up tension; a man set fire to a black pirate flag with Bush's face for a death's head. Even if the war is over fast with minimal casualties, even if the Iraqi people hail the Americans and British as liberators and lead them to vast chemical arsenals, the feeling of betrayal will not easily dissipate. When Blair appeared on television to announce the war's beginning he looked haggard, almost desperate--a striking contrast to Bush's smug belligerence, which BBC reporters noted with barely concealed contempt. Blair knew he was speaking to a deeply skeptical and wounded nation, asking us to trust him on a matter of the greatest possible import, which is in fact no longer in his hands. The so-called surgical strikes that began the attack on Iraq put yet another dent in the carefully cultivated illusion that Britain has some say in America's enterprise. Questioned in the Commons, the Defense Secretary assured MPs that he had been in on the preparations; few were inclined to believe him, even when the BBC reported that the missiles had been launched from British submarines. (The BBC has also claimed repeatedly that Iraq has fired forbidden Scuds into Kuwait, though no one knows for sure yet what the missiles were.) For all the familiar electronic wizardry wheeled out on TV to make death seem exciting, the invasion of Iraq feels very different from the last Gulf War, from Kosovo, or even Afghanistan. It's not just the shimmer of tension created by vague threats of terrorist attack, or even the fact that Britain is acting against the will of Europe and the United Nations--in the words of one Scottish minister, that we are the invaders. It's the knowledge that we're all now on a ghost train driven by George Bush, and Blair has given up our right to pull the emergency cord. Maria Margaronis is The Nation's London correspondent.

To: Bald Eagle who wrote (2313)	3/24/2003 12:58:48 PM
From: jttmab	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 21614

Anyone who supports or is an apologist for Saddam's regime is our enemy. You might want to phrase that a bit more carefully...that could include Ronald Reagan and George Bush....and Maggie Thatcher... Just a suggestion. You can leave your phrasing the way it stands. jttmab