instant weight loss products, predigested fast food, and incontinence panties, cable TV
commentators bay like rabid dogs for war against Iraq, and subject nations
daring to oppose
President Bush's crusade to venomous abuse or sneering disdain.
By ERIC MARGOLIS -- Contributing Foreign Editor
MIAMI
-- Watching American TV can be a surreal experience. Sandwiched between
ads for
instant weight loss products, predigested fast food, and incontinence panties,
cable TV
commentators bay like rabid dogs for war against Iraq, and subject nations
daring to oppose
President Bush's crusade to venomous abuse or sneering disdain.
France,
which speaks with the strongest, most logical voice of those opposing war,
has become
the special target of vituperation and hatred in America's leading
neo-conservative media - Fox TV, the Wall
Street Journal, New York Post - and the Bush administration's bete
noire. Particularly so, now that France,
Germany, and Russia vow to veto U.S. attempts to ram a war-enabling
resolution through the UN Security
Council.
France, many Americans claim, should do whatever Washington orders out
of gratitude for the U.S. "saving" it
in two world wars. U.S. television features angry veterans standing
in American military cemeteries in
Normandy, denouncing France for "stabbing America in the back" - as
if invading Iraq to grab its oil and
crushing Israel's enemies had anything to do with World War II.
Few flag-waving pundits mention America sat out almost 40% of WWII until
attacked by Japan. In 1940, the
German armed forces were the equivalent of the U.S. armed forces today
- a full military generation ahead of
other nations. France's entire army was destroyed in battle by the
invincible Germans; had the U.S. fought
Germany in 1940, it too would have been routed. The Soviet Union, not
the U.S., defeated Germany, destroying
over 100 Nazi divisions.
So enough with all the bombast about Word War II. In the eyes of Europeans
and most of the world, George
Bush's administration looks dangerously aggressive, dominated as it
is by petrohawks and neo-conservative
ideologues linked to Israel's far right. These little Mussolinis have
no time for diplomacy or multi-nationalism. No
wonder a recent Pew Research poll found that formerly favourable ratings
of the U.S. have plummeted in 19 of
27 nations surveyed.
It seems at times that President Bush is even more eager to bomb Paris
than Baghdad. In fact, the
administration has been treating France like an enemy, rather than
America's oldest ally and intimate friend.
Neo-conservatives even accuse France of anti-Semitism, a disgusting
slander.
Doing the right thing
Far from being an enemy, France has been doing what a true good friend
should do: telling Washington its
policy is wrong and dangerous, unlike the handkissing leaders of Britain,
Spain and Italy, who crave Bush's
political support, or the East European coalition of the shilling,
ex-communist politicians pandering to
Washington for cash. Seventy percent of British, and 90% of Italians
and Spaniards oppose Bush's crusade.
France's President Jacques Chirac speaks for an overwhelming majority
of Europeans and, indeed, the
world's people, in urging the U.S. to opt for diplomacy and UN inspections
over a war that will not be worth the
loss of a single American soldier, not to mention tens of thousands
of Iraqis and chaos across Mesopotamia.
So, too, warns the great and wise Pope John Paul II.
The contrast between France's reasoned diplomatic response and Bush's
belligerent behaviour could not be
more stark. As is the dignified, logical tone set by President Chirac
and Foreign Minister Dominique de
Villepin compared to the bullying, low-brow, locker-room talk issuing
from the White House that has seriously
damaged America's reputation and image around the globe.
Last week Turkey's new parliament, chosen in the first truly democratic
election in memory, followed Europe,
courageously rejecting Washington's bribes and demands that U.S. ground
forces be allowed to attack Iraq
from Turkish territory. Washington's churlish response - withdrawing
its bribes, threatening punishment -
contrasted curiously to Bush's claims his goal in Iraq is bringing
democracy to the Mideast. Democracy, its
seems, is fine so long as it does U.S. bidding. Inconveniently, Turkey's
people and democratic government
voted a resounding no to war. How long the Turks can resist intense
pressure from the U.S. and its friends,
Turkey's hard right generals, remains to be seen.
Bush's crusade against Iraq will go on with or without Turkey. The war
will be akin to throwing a grenade into a
huge hornet's nest. France, which lives next to the Arab world and
has 5 million Muslim citizens, warns an
invasion and occupation of Iraq will roil the entire region, spark
more terrorism, and hit Europe with a
dangerous backblast. But Bush couldn't care less, as he would say.
While Bush prepares war against demolished Iraq, he is ducking the surging
nuclear confrontation with North
Korea, which, unlike Iraq, truly threatens North America. Outrageous
dereliction of duty over Korea, obsessive
warmongering against Iraq, crude, aggressive behaviour worthy of Leonid
Brezhnev's Soviet Union, threats
against the UN, a $400-billion deficit that will infect the world with
inflation, and damage to America's reputation
- such are Bush's "accomplishments" to date. Who needs enemies with
world-class blunderers like this in
charge?
America's friends and neighbours, led by France, the mother of diplomacy,
rightly warn the steroidal Bush
administration to halt its rush to war. President Chirac and Foreign
Minister de Villepin deserve the Nobel
Peace Prize. Americans owe France an apology, and a hearty "merci mon
ami."