The Emerging Superpower of Peace
by
Harvey Wasserman
Dissident Voice
March 17, 2003
Amidst
the agonizing crisis over Iraq, the violent contortions of the world's only
military superpower have given birth to a transcendental force: the global Superpower of Peace.
That George W. Bush's
obsession with Saddam Hussein has become a global issue at all is perhaps the
most tangible proof of this new superpower's potential clout.
Only one thing has slowed
(or stopped) Bush from launching this attack:
the economic, political, moral and spiritual power of an intangible
human network determined to stop this war.
Bush has amassed the most
powerful killing machine humankind has ever created. He's set its fuse on the borders of an impoverished desert nation
with no credible ability to protect itself from this unprecedented attack. His military henchmen believe the conquest
of this small country can be done quickly, with relatively few casualties on
the the attacking side (though many civilians would die on the Iraqi side, as
they did in the 1991 Gulf War I).
The potential prizes are
enormous:
* Outright control of the
world's second-largest oil reserve;
* Removal of Bush's hated
personal rival, a US Frankenstein gone bad;
* A pivotal military base in
the heart of the Middle East;
* Hugely lucrative contracts
for both the destroyers and the rebuilders of Iraq;
* The ability to test a new
generation of ultra high-tech weaponry;
* The chance to display the
awesome killing power of that weaponry;
* The chance to demonstrate
a willingness to use that power;
* The
fulfillment of Biblical prophesy as seen through the eyes of religious
fanatics.
But after months of
preparation, the world's only military superpower has hesitated. Instead of obliterating Baghdad---as it
physically could at any time---the Bush cabal has flinched.
Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld says he needs no military allies.
But he's desperately courting them.
Bush says he doesn't need UN
approval. But he's desperately sought
it.
Why?
One could argue the US has
been marking time because it's not quite ready, with deployments and other
technical needs not yet met.
But all that is now far more
difficult with an astounding rejection by Turkey, which shares a strategic
border with Iraq. Turkish opposition to
war is running a fierce 80-90%. Major
arm-twisting (and a $26 billion bribe) has not bought permission to use Turkish
land and air space.
Meanwhile, the
"no" votes of China, Russia, France and Germany represent the official
opinion of some 2 billion people. They
are irrelevant to the mechanics of armed conquest. But the four nay-sayers represent enormous political and economic
power. So do scores of other nations
whose nervous millions now march for peace.
"Never before in the
history of the world has there been a global, visible, public, viable, open
dialogue and conversation about the very legitimacy of war," says Robert
Muller, a long-time UN guiding light who views this global resistance as
virtually miraculous.
To all this has been added
the opposition of the Pope. The Bush
cabal may be asking that infamous question:
"How many divisions does the Pope have?"
But about a quarter of the
US---and its armed forces---are Catholics.
They may soon be forced to choose between the opinion of their
infallible spiritual leader and that of their unelected president.
The Pope has already been
asked to put himself between the people of Baghdad and a US attack. He could also speak "ex cathedra,"
banning Catholic participation in the war.
Meanwhile the spiritual
opposition has been joined by a wide spectrum of religious organizations,
including Bush's own church. Though
constantly speaking in religious terms, Bush has refused to meet with the broad
range of clerics who oppose his war.
Meanwhile, worldwide
demonstrations are growing bigger and more focused. In Britain one wonders if the next march might shut down London
or the entire country. Massive civil disobedience
is inevitable at dozens of US embassies.
Consumer boycotts are likely to erupt with staggering force.
Within the US, the fiercest
opposition may well be coming from Wall Street. Specific corporations such as Dick Cheney's Halliburton and
Richard Perle's consulting firm stand to make a fortune from Gulf War II. But mainstream financial and commercial
institutions are understandably terrified.
The American economy is already staggering under deep recession. Bush's tax cuts will yield stratospheric
deficits for decades to come. The US
economy now bears the sickly pallor of a collapsing empire.
With war, a depressed stock
market that hates instability could well plunge another 25-50%. Next would come the worldwide boycott of
American products. China counts a
billion-plus citizens and a rapidly emerging economic powerhouse. France and Germany dominate the European
Union, which will soon outstrip the US in gross output---and consumer
spending. A billion-plus Muslims must
also be accounted for.
Tragically, violent
terrorism would also accompany a Bush attack.
In bloodshed and degraded quality of life, the cost would be
horrifying. The US airline industry has
already warned it might not survive another round of terrorism. That's probably a tiny tip of the economic
iceberg.
Through the internet, the
nonviolent movement is linked by billions of e-mails and forwarded articles
meant to surround and circumvent the corporate media. They warn the blood shed in this proposed war would be
unconscionable. That its ecological
costs would be unsustainable. That
civil rights and liberties are being trashed.
And that the multiplier effects of such devastating chaos cannot be
predicted.
A war between unelected
macho madmen, launched by a military superpower against its own puppet gone
astray, is the ultimate yin to the new movement's yang.
If, as you read this, war
has broken out, know this: the global
Superpower of Peace can bend, but it won't break.
If Bush still hasn't
attacked, and Saddam continues to be disarmed, count another day the Superpower
of Peace has extended its pre-emptive influence, its maturity, its scope.
No matter what ultimately
happens in Iraq, the new millennium will be neither American nor Chinese nor
European nor military nor corporate nor dictatorial.
It belongs to the Superpower
of Peace, being born before our electronic eyes.
Harvey Wasserman is senior editor of www.freepress.org and author of The Last
Energy War (Seven Stories Press, 2001).