By Remy Kachadourian
Guest Column
El Semanario, 10/24/02
On September 27, over 3000 people gathered in Denver to say “No” to war against Iraq. The organizers themselves were not expecting that many people. According to one of the organizers, Mark Cohen, a member of the Colorado Campaign for Middle East Peace (www.ccmep.org), such opposition to the foreign policy of the United States has not been seen in the streets of Denver since the Gulf War, ten years ago. On September 28, the Rocky Mountain News reported “a scene recalling '60s,” when people were protesting against the war in Vietnam. During the past month, opposition to Bush and his British ally’s policy in the Middle East has been growing both abroad and within the United States: 350,000 protesters in London, 20,000 in New York, 8,000 in San Francisco, and thousands more in Italy, France, and Spain.
It appears more and more obvious that the Bush administration is using “concern for the security of American citizens” to implement its own agenda: to re-enforce political and military supremacy in the Middle East and the rest of the world, and, in the United States, to intimidate the critics of this policy as well as its domestic policies. By mid-October, near half of the democrats in Congress opposed the resolution that would give power to Bush to engage, whenever he decides, a “pre-emptive” war against Iraq, with or without the authorization of the United Nations. Senator Byrd denounced this resolution as violating the Constitution of the United States, since there is no serious indication that Iraq is directly threatening the security of the Unites States or has links with Al-Qaeda.
Saddam Hussein certainly represents a threat to his own people, but most of the world, and more and more American citizens, are aware that this war has little to do with democracy. Why should the Iraqi people be forced to choose between the dictator in power in Baghdad or the “democratic bombs” of the president of the United States, whose election is controversial and who has obvious oil interests in the region? Saudi Arabia, one of the major allies of the United States in the region, is a monarchy that doesn’t even have a Constitution, and Israel, although democratic, is oppressing and denying the most basic rights to an entire people, the Palestinians. This armed and offensive double standard of the US is a major concern for those across the world who are struggling for justice and the peaceful resolution of conflicts, as well as for the increasing number of American citizens who are realizing that this policy, far from insuring their own security, is compromising it.
The Mexicans that live and work in this country know that they will be among the first internal targets of this war atmosphere. Since September 11, war propaganda has been used to suspend the legalization campaign, and to increasingly tighten the border between Mexico and the United States. The recent debates within the United Nations, however, show that Mexico, France, Russia, China and the vast majority of the countries of the world are opposed to a military threat on Iraq until it has been proven that this country is developing weapons of mass destruction. In fact, the increasing external and internal opposition to the war has forced Bush’s administration to renounce, at least for the time being, its unilateral decision to invade Iraq.
This Saturday, October 26, is a National Day of Action Against the War. In solidarity with this movement, a rally will be held in Denver, at the Civic Center Park, at 12:00 noon.
FAIR USE NOTICE
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.