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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ish who wrote (395181)	4/19/2003 10:42:06 PM
From: SOROS	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

PART I AMERICA Vs EUROPE by: S.R. Shearer April 18, 2003 "The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns ... from the herd and thinks for himself." - Archibald MacLeish "... Nichts ist schwerer und nichts erfordert mehr Charakter, als sich in offenem Gegensatz zu seiner Zeit zu befinden und laut zu sagen: Nein! - Kurt Tucholsky, Germany, 1934 [Nothing is more difficult, and nothing requires more character than to find oneself in open opposition to one's time (and those one loves) and to say loudly: No!] INTRODUCTION Robert Stewart, a former intelligence analyst writing for the Hartford Courant, reports that over the last few weeks the skeptics of American military predominance who exist in France, Germany and the rest of Europe - as well as liberal circles in this country - have been awed (perhaps the better word is "dazzled") into an abrupt and hushed silence by the ferocity and stunning success of the American attack on Iraq. Stewart writes that they have been dumbfounded - "... by the thunder of coalition bombs, multiple rocket systems and volleys from the 120mm main guns of M-1 Abrams tanks. In less than 24 hours, two of the heretofore vaunted Republican Guard divisions were rendered combat ineffective. So, too, were the critics. "Until Wednesday (April 2nd), the chorus of criticism (insofar as America's ability to quickly and decisively take apart Iraq's military machine) had been swelling in volume. Front-page stories in newspapers across the country (and Europe) had doubted the efficacy of General Tommy Franks' (and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's) plan for the war. Many who are not in the theater and have no access to the actual war plans - or, in fact, any military experience at all - warned that coalition military planners should rethink their plan of attack; that the current plan wasn't working. Those critics were wrong. "FRANKS AND HIS TROOPS ARE ACHIEVING A MILITARY VICTORY OF HISTORIC PROPORTIONS. The ... battle against the Medina Division of the 'elite' Republican Guard on Wednesday - the best-equipped and best-trained, the fiercest and most feared of Hussein's divisions - lasted a mere three hours before the Iraqi force was routed. Simultaneously, the Baghdad Division, according to Central Command's spokesman Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, 'has been destroyed' ... "These are not the first victories of the war, and this is not a sudden burst of success. In less than two weeks, the military was able to move troops across hostile territory to the gates of Baghdad, achieve complete air superiority, seize the ports, secure nearly all the oilfields, prevent Saddam Hussein's thugs from setting them ablaze and capture hundreds of prisoners - all without destroying critical infrastructure or religious sites. THEIRS IS AN UNPARALLELED SUCCESS. NO SUCH FORCE HAS EVER MOVED SO MANY (TROOPS) SO FAR SO FAST." THERE IS MORE "AFOOT" THAN MEETS THE EYE All this has come as a severe blow to the Europeans - AND THERE IS MUCH MORE TO BE REMARKED ON HERE THAN MIGHT FIRST MEET THE EYE: The truth of the matter is, the Europeans, led by France and Germany, have been engaged in a very DANGEROUS "game" with the United States, and the results of America's War in Iraq attest in unmistakable terms to the fact that they have lost that "game." Moreover, the recent words of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz make it clear how BADLY they have lost. Speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Wolfowitz indicated that while France and Germany would be "welcome" to provide financial assistance to Iraq's reconstruction, including debt relief (which means the abrogation of the debts owed to France and Germany for "services rendered" to the regime of Saddam Hussein, something the Americans are twitting the noses of these countries over 'tongue-in-cheek'), THEY AND OTHERS LIKE THEM IN THE UNITED NATIONS WHO OPPOSED AMERICA'S WAR AIMS IN IRAQ "CAN'T BE MANAGING PARTNERS" WITH THE UNITED STATES IN REBUILDING IRAQ. The only role left to these nations is - as Lawrence O'Rourke reports - "A JUNIOR PARTNER POSITION TO THE NATIONS IN THE U.S.-LED COALITION THAT TOPPLED SADDAM HUSSEIN." Wolfowitz leaves no doubt about this; he says that under NO circumstances will THEY BE ALLOWED TO BE "IN CHARGE OF POSTWAR IRAQ," and he singled France out for special opprobrium, and went so far as to charge France with behavior that "enlarged" the risk for American soldiers during the war. That's the kind of charge that will rally the American people in a red hot rage against France, Germany and the rest of the world. Wolfowitz continued ominously: "FRANCE IS GOING TO PAY SOME CONSEQUENCES ... FOR BLOCKING A WIDER U.N. MILITARY COALITION AGAINST SADDAM." This kind of very BLUNT language is unusual in the world of diplomacy, and indicates that there is something much more afoot in the transatlantic quarrel between America (on the one hand) and the European Union (on the other hand). And there is! THE "GAME" WHAT THE EUROPEANS HAVE BEEN DOING IS TRYING TO ESCAPE THEIR FLUNKY STATUS IN THE AMERICAN NEW WORLD ORDER SYSTEM BY ELEVATING THE EURO TO THE STANDING OF A "RESERVE CURRENCY" EQUAL TO THE DOLLAR, AND BY DOING SO, MAKING EUROPE A CO-EQUAL PARTNER WITH THE UNITED STATES IN THE NEW WORLD ORDER SYSTEM. The attempt here is aimed at ending America's ability to print money endlessly in order to finance its budget and trade deficits, and - ipso facto - sending the American economy into a nose-dive from which it would be difficult to recover; that would fracture the "UNIPOLAR" world that has developed around the United States since the collapse of the Old Soviet Union, and would replace it with a more "MULTIPOLAR world" in which the Europeans could play a larger role. THE "GAME" THE EUROPEANS CONCOCTED TO RAISE THE EURO TO CO-EQUAL STATUS WITH THE DOLLAR AS A "RESERVE CURRENCY" INVOLVED AN ATTEMPT TO GET THE OIL TRADING NATIONS OF OPEC TO STOP USING THE DOLLAR AS THEIR "RESERVE CURRENCY" AND THE "EXCHANGE MECHANISM" ON WHICH THEIR TRADE IN OIL TOOK PLACE, AND TO START USING THE EURO. THE KEY TO THE "GAME:" IRAQ The key to the "game" the Europeans were playing was getting Iraq to go along with their plan. Iraq was to be the proverbial "foot in the door" for the Euro. To this end, France and Germany over the last few years or so had been positioning themselves to play a central role in Iraq once the U.N. sanctions against Iraq were lifted and Iraqi oil again began being freely traded in the world market.