|
Yes, Despite the War, Peace Protests Accomplished a Lot
A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
by Susan Manning
Dear BuzzFlash,
I hope you will publish this as a reader commentary because I feel that we who oppose the war on Iraq are missing something in the last few days' events. WE WON. That's right, we won, but nobody seems to have noticed.
Yes, it's depressing and terrible that we are going to war and many Iraqi civilians will die. But that has been a preordained conclusion for months, even years (possibly since the last hanging chad WASN'T counted at the direction of the Supreme Court).
What we didn't know and might never even have dared to hope is that Bush and his gang of Neocons would have to go it alone, completely isolated internationally, with only a few foreign leaders offering (mostly nominal) support in defiance of their own people.
Many lament the fact that the UN has been bypassed, and of course that is a terrible state of affairs. But how much worse would it have been to see the UN reduced to a rubber stamp for a war that its members oppose? That would have been irrelevance; instead, the UN has PRESERVED its relevance by denying legitimacy to an illegitimate war.
Let's give ourselves some credit here. The global peace movement created the conditions for even small, vulnerable states like Guinea and Cameroon to resist the Bush administration's threats and inducements. As a result, Bush has been denied the international seal of approval he asked for and expected.
Indeed, the illegitimacy of war on Iraq is crystal clear to just about everyone except the gullible and lied to American public.
And this is good thing, because ultimately, any plan to exercise global U.S. hegemony will have to rely on credibility and not just force. The Bush administration's failure at the UN bodes ill for the Neocon plan to rule the world -- but very well for the future of global democracy.
Let's take a moment to acknowledge this victory before death and destruction rain down upon Iraq.
Susan Manning
A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
Articles in the BuzzFlash Contributor section are posted as-is. Given the timeliness of some Contributor articles, BuzzFlash cannot verify or guarantee the accuracy of every word. We strive to correct inaccuracies when they are brought to our attention.
