Switched on the shiny new widescreen TV at midday to find George W Bush live* on all five stations. If Saddam and Co. aren’t gone in 48 hours then it’s war. Even better is that W and friends want to bring democracy to the entire Middle East. A noble ambition for sure, but my feeling is that democracy to them means that America gets to vote on their policies. I wonder if they would consider France and Germany to be democracies.
While I would agree that Saddam is an evil person and that I would be much happier if Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction, the way that events are being played out feels deeply wrong. I also despise the way that our racist Prime Minister blindly follows the United States’ lead, as if the opinion of Australia’s citizens is irrelevant. Sure he’s popluarist when it comes to issues that are close to his heart like anti-immigration policies, but he’d rather follow his spiritual leaders the US conservatives when it comes to overseas policies.
I have a strong feeling that the world will become a more destabilised place with he war on Iraq and that the US’ policies will only encourage a build-up of militarism and weaponary across the world. Countries like China may feel that one day the US may need to be taught a lesson lest they get too big for their boots.
So no, I don’t support this war. Not at this time and not in this way. And I don’t support Howard the Coward. Despite this, I do support the Australian troops who must carry out the morons’ orders and hope that they will return safe and well.
* Interestingly enough, there was a delay of a second or two between some stations, so they can’t all have been “live!”