GRANMA - March 5, 2003
War against Iraq and
the world is already set
BY JOAQUÍN RIVERY TUR
Special for Granma International

IMAGES from Hiroshima, the Japanese city devastated by an
atomic bomb in 1945, opened March 3's nightly roundtable
discussion on Cuban television with a comparison made
between those images and the huge threat posed by a war that
the United States has already prepared against Iraq, and
that has no foreseeable consequences.

Washington stands against the world. It is even using spy
satellites to intercept information. At least five members
of the UN Security Council are opposed to the war that Bush
in Washington, Tony Blair in Britain, and José María Aznar
in Spain intend to launch, despite knowing full well that
the cost will be an incalculable number of victims. It has
been said that one million children could die.

The press usually calls the most right-wing elements of
those governments "hawks," but it would be more true to say
that they are "vultures." Aznar has even started an
international campaign to try to win, buy, or even issue
threats in order to receive the votes of some nations.

Washington is insistent despite declarations by some
Security Council members - such as France and Russia - that
they will use their right of veto to reject a resolution
allowing the use of force against Iraq. But Washington is
not interested in the United Nations. It wants to
demonstrate that the United States is the dominant empire of
the entire planet.

Interestingly enough, a European military chief has
announced that the Pentagon has looked into repositioning
its military bases to more easterly and southerly points;
that is to say, closer to Arab and developing countries.

The United States is reported to have already spent some
$100 billion USD and estimates put the war on Iraq at a cost
of somewhere in the region of $500 million USD per day.
Meanwhile, in the Third World, people are dying of hunger
and preventable diseases.

Iraq will also be the firing range for a whole host of new
weapons and Bush intends to drop more bombs in one day than
rained upon the Arab country throughout the entire Gulf War.

The United States is, however, facing serious obstacles. The
Turkish population does not want U.S. soldiers stationed on
its territory and many influential governments also oppose
this, including France, Germany, Russia, China and a group
of Muslim nations.

Within the United States itself, a significant section of
the population do not want to obtain oil in exchange for
blood and are completely against waging war. Meanwhile, in
the media there is both support for Bush and for an
opposition that takes in account the cost of the war and not
the suffering of the victims. U.S citizens are worried about
the state of an economy in which oil prices are rising and
consumer spending is falling; an extremely worrying and
pressurized situation.

Regarding Iraqi oil, what is not being revealed is who
exactly is going to take over the industry? It is generally
supposed that Bush will somehow hand over its running to his
transnational corporation buddies.