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CounterPunch
March 15,
2003
The
Pre-emptive Power of the Anti-War Movement
The Emerging
Superpower of Peace
by HARVEY WASSERMAN
Amidst the agonizing crisis over Iraq, the violent
contortions of the world's only military superpower have given
birth to a transcendental force: the global Superpower of Peace.
That George W. Bush's obsession with
Saddam Hussein has become a global issue at all is perhaps the
most tangible proof of this new superpower's potential clout.
Only one thing has slowed (or stopped)
Bush from launching this attack: the economic, political, moral
and spiritual power of an intangible human network determined
to stop this war.
Bush has amassed the most powerful killing
machine humankind has ever created. He's set its fuse on the
borders of an impoverished desert nation with no credible ability
to protect itself from this unprecedented attack. His military
henchmen believe the conquest of this small country can be done
quickly, with relatively few casualties on the the attacking
side (though many civilians would die on the Iraqi side, as they
did in the 1991 Gulf War I).
The potential prizes are enormous:
* Outright control of the world's second-largest
oil reserve;
* Removal of Bush's hated personal rival,
a US Frankenstein gone bad;
* A pivotal military base in the heart
of the Middle East; . Hugely lucrative contracts for both the
destroyers and the rebuilders of Iraq;
* The ability to test a new generation
of ultra high-tech weaponry;
* The chance to display the awesome killing
power of that weaponry;
* The chance to demonstrate a willingness
to use that power;
* The fulfillment of Biblical prophesy
as seen through the eyes of religious fanatics.
But after months of preparation, the
world's only military superpower has hesitated. Instead of obliterating
Baghdad---as it physically could at any time---the Bush cabal
has flinched.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says
he needs no military allies. But he's desperately courting them.
Bush says he doesn't need UN approval.
But he's desperately sought it.
Why?
One could argue the US has been marking
time because it's not quite ready, with deployments and other
technical needs not yet met.
But all that is now far more difficult
with an astounding rejection by Turkey, which shares a strategic
border with Iraq. Turkish opposition to war is running a fierce
80-90%. Major arm-twisting (and a $26 billion bribe) has not
bought permission to use Turkish land and air space.
Meanwhile, the "no" votes of
China, Russia, France and Germany represent the official opinion
of some 2 billion people. They are irrelevant to the mechanics
of armed conquest. But the four nay-sayers represent enormous
political and economic power. So do scores of other nations whose
nervous millions now march for peace.
"Never before in the history of
the world has there been a global, visible, public, viable, open
dialogue and conversation about the very legitimacy of war,"
says Robert Muller, a long-time UN guiding light who views this
global resistance as virtually miraculous.
To all this has been added the opposition
of the Pope. The Bush cabal may be asking, as Stalin did, how
many divisions the Pope has.
But about a quarter of the US---and its
armed forces---are Catholics. They may soon be forced to choose
between the opinion of their infallible spiritual leader and
that of their unelected president.
The Pope has already been asked to put
himself between the people of Baghdad and a US attack. He could
also speak "ex cathedra," banning Catholic participation
in the war.
Meanwhile the spiritual opposition has
been joined by a wide spectrum of religious organizations, including
Bush's own church. Though constantly speaking in religious terms,
Bush has refused to meet with the broad range of clerics who
oppose his war.
Meanwhile, worldwide demonstrations are
growing bigger and more focused. In Britain one wonders if the
next march might shut down London or the entire country. Massive
civil disobedience is inevitable at dozens of US embassies. Consumer
boycotts are likely to erupt with staggering force.
Within the US, the fiercest opposition
may well be coming from Wall Street. Specific corporations such
as Dick Cheney's Halliburton and Richard Perle's consulting firm
stand to make a fortune from Gulf War II. But mainstream financial
and commercial institutions are understandably terrified. The
American economy is already staggering under deep recession.
Bush's tax cuts will yield stratospheric deficits for decades
to come. The US economy now bears the sickly pallor of a collapsing
empire.
With war, a depressed stock market that
hates instability could well plunge another 25-50%. Next would
come the worldwide boycott of American products. China counts
a billion-plus citizens and a rapidly emerging economic powerhouse.
France and Germany dominate the European Union, which will soon
outstrip the US in gross output---and consumer spending. A billion-plus
Muslims must also be accounted for.
Tragically, violent terrorism would also
accompany a Bush attack. In bloodshed and degraded quality of
life, the cost would be horrifying. The US airline industry has
already warned it might not survive another round of terrorism.
That's probably a tiny tip of the economic iceberg.
Through the internet, the nonviolent
movement is linked by billions of e-mails and forwarded articles
meant to surround and circumvent the corporate media. They warn
the blood shed in this proposed war would be unconscionable.
That its ecological costs would be unsustainable. That civil
rights and liberties are being trashed. And that the multiplier
effects of such devastating chaos cannot be predicted.
A war between unelected macho madmen,
launched by a military superpower against its own puppet gone
astray, is the ultimate yin to the new movement's yang.
If, as you read this, war has broken
out, know this: the global Superpower of Peace can bend, but
it won't break.
If Bush still hasn't attacked, and Saddam
continues to be disarmed, count another day the Superpower of
Peace has extended its pre-emptive influence, its maturity, its
scope.
The new millennium will be neither American
nor Chinese nor European nor military nor corporate nor dictatorial.
It belongs to the Superpower of Peace,
being born before our electronic eyes.
Harvey Wasserman
is senior editor of Free
Press and author of The Last Energy War (Seven Stories
Press). He can be reached at: NonukesHW@aol.com
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