Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Lebanon: Opposition to War
'The second trend that explains the global opposition to the war is about the laws of nature and physics that say that for every action there is a reaction. In this case, the immediate action is the terrible suffering brought on by the war; the longer term action is American foreign policy in the Middle East for the past four decades or so. The reaction to both is a massive, collective rejection of that policy, in the region and globally. People everywhere are shocked and terrified by the political and moral presumptuousness of the United States government that expects people throughout the Middle East to join its bandwagon, because America?s military prowess is expected to prevail in Iraq.

'The US corollary explanation that it is waging war to bring freedom and democracy to the region is neither credible nor convincing. This is a form of self-inflicted intellectual collateral damage that wise Americans should factor into their profit-and-loss calculations for this campaign. Much of the anti-American sentiment around the world reflects Washington's legacy of empty promises in this region, combined with a foreign policy based on brute force and running against the tide of global public opinion.'

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