The Bush domino effect drops also old buddies
jane fr | 13.07.2007 09:08 | Analysis | Iraq | World
Unfortunately for the rest of humanity the U.S.A. conducts the global orchestra to the sound of American tunes. For the last six years the number one hit was a patriotic trumpet and drum duet that muted the rest of the more subtle orchestral sounds. Now those silenced instruments are elbowing their way back to audition level.
The Bush domino effect drops also old buddies
by Uli Schmetzer
www.ulischmetzer.wordpress.com
Venice, July 11, 2007 – Unfortunately for the rest of humanity the U.S.A. conducts the global orchestra to the sound of American tunes. For the last six years the number one hit was a patriotic trumpet and drum duet that muted the rest of the more subtle orchestral sounds. Now those silenced instruments are elbowing their way back to audition level.
For a start a mass media, much chastised for its complacent role in the Iraq War propaganda, is finally taking to task the U.S. President and his closest allies for their invasion of Iraq an adventure obviously planned well before the two airliners smashed into the Twin Towers.
Anti-Bush and anti-Cheney critics are sprouting like mushrooms after the rain (God knows under what bushel most of them hid in previous years) and ambitious politicians, most with pro-war credentials during past incarnations, are now rushing for a seat on the bandwagon of the anti-war movement.
America has a habit of purging itself after one of its follies.
Not surprising in a world of hypocrites the biggest sinners are often the first to switch with the wind. Just take the excessively admired New York Times, the one-time pro-war publicist and disseminator of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. Nowadays the tune-setter of the U.S. media is falling over itself to criticize and expose the fables and failures of the President and the foggy commercial connections and interests of his vice-president.
Media criticism has become so vocal and fashionable these days some staunch Republican legislators and pro-war hawks have deserted the ‘Bush-line.’
Like wayward Christians they claim to have ‘finally’ seen the light.
But when America burps the rest of the world also burps.
The lost war in Iraq had a ‘Bush domino effect’ on nearly all the U.S. allies who set out to fight side by side with their American buddies. Gone is Tony Blair, the staunchest of them all and the glib voice of persuasion. He bowed out under pressure by his own political party. He left a successor who hastily promised a withdrawal of all British troops to placate an overwhelming British anti-war sentiment. After all, so the pragmatists argued: ‘Why sacrifice more of our men in a war we started with lies and then almost immediately lost?’
In Italy, billionaire and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi and his rightist alliance (including the neo-fascists) had euphorically supported the Bush agenda and the war. Berlusconi, often likened to Mussolini by his nostalgic admirers, was one of the first to bite the dust. He was voted out by Italians who have shown over generations their genetic knack to realize which way the wind is blowing.
Italy, under new center-left Prime Minister Romano Prodi, withdrew its troops months after a newly elected leftwing government in Spain, also campaigning against war participation, had done so already.
Another western pillar present in Iraq and sure to fall later this year is Australian Prime Minister John Howard seeking his third term in office. Howard has been so loyal to his ‘mate’ George W. his foreign minister still insisted weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq even after the American President admitted he had apparently been misinformed about such gadgets. The opposition Labor Party has promised to bring the Australian contingent in Iraq back home.
Perhaps these chastised friends of America will think twice before supporting the next military mess of the United States. (ends)
by Uli Schmetzer
www.ulischmetzer.wordpress.com
Venice, July 11, 2007 – Unfortunately for the rest of humanity the U.S.A. conducts the global orchestra to the sound of American tunes. For the last six years the number one hit was a patriotic trumpet and drum duet that muted the rest of the more subtle orchestral sounds. Now those silenced instruments are elbowing their way back to audition level.
For a start a mass media, much chastised for its complacent role in the Iraq War propaganda, is finally taking to task the U.S. President and his closest allies for their invasion of Iraq an adventure obviously planned well before the two airliners smashed into the Twin Towers.
Anti-Bush and anti-Cheney critics are sprouting like mushrooms after the rain (God knows under what bushel most of them hid in previous years) and ambitious politicians, most with pro-war credentials during past incarnations, are now rushing for a seat on the bandwagon of the anti-war movement.
America has a habit of purging itself after one of its follies.
Not surprising in a world of hypocrites the biggest sinners are often the first to switch with the wind. Just take the excessively admired New York Times, the one-time pro-war publicist and disseminator of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. Nowadays the tune-setter of the U.S. media is falling over itself to criticize and expose the fables and failures of the President and the foggy commercial connections and interests of his vice-president.
Media criticism has become so vocal and fashionable these days some staunch Republican legislators and pro-war hawks have deserted the ‘Bush-line.’
Like wayward Christians they claim to have ‘finally’ seen the light.
But when America burps the rest of the world also burps.
The lost war in Iraq had a ‘Bush domino effect’ on nearly all the U.S. allies who set out to fight side by side with their American buddies. Gone is Tony Blair, the staunchest of them all and the glib voice of persuasion. He bowed out under pressure by his own political party. He left a successor who hastily promised a withdrawal of all British troops to placate an overwhelming British anti-war sentiment. After all, so the pragmatists argued: ‘Why sacrifice more of our men in a war we started with lies and then almost immediately lost?’
In Italy, billionaire and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi and his rightist alliance (including the neo-fascists) had euphorically supported the Bush agenda and the war. Berlusconi, often likened to Mussolini by his nostalgic admirers, was one of the first to bite the dust. He was voted out by Italians who have shown over generations their genetic knack to realize which way the wind is blowing.
Italy, under new center-left Prime Minister Romano Prodi, withdrew its troops months after a newly elected leftwing government in Spain, also campaigning against war participation, had done so already.
Another western pillar present in Iraq and sure to fall later this year is Australian Prime Minister John Howard seeking his third term in office. Howard has been so loyal to his ‘mate’ George W. his foreign minister still insisted weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq even after the American President admitted he had apparently been misinformed about such gadgets. The opposition Labor Party has promised to bring the Australian contingent in Iraq back home.
Perhaps these chastised friends of America will think twice before supporting the next military mess of the United States. (ends)
jane fr