According to the Bush administration, settling Iraq was to be a prelude to settling the Palestinian-Israeli conflict via the Bush “road map.” Although yet to be formally released, a draft of the road map was deposited in the British House of Commons library by the Foreign Office on April 13. The following are highlights of and commentary on the draft.
Recent statements by top Bush administration officials have accused the Syrian government of aiding senior Iraqi officials to escape, possessing chemical weapons, and committing "hostile acts" against the U.S. by allegedly supplying military equipment, such as night-vision goggles, to the Iraqis. On April 10th, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz told Congress, "The Syrians are behaving badly. They need to be reminded of that, and if they continue, then we need to think about what our policy is with respect to a country that harbors terrorists or harbors war criminals, or was in recent times shipping things to Iraq." People should keep in mind the following points in response to administration claims:
When the British burned huge piles of dead farm animals to eradicate foot and mouth disease, one of the unforeseen consequences was that the highly infective virus was lifted on the plumes of smoke, and spread even further. We can foresee that the war that was waged to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction may have similar consequences, unforeseen as so often, by the Bush administration.
The Iraqi people certainly have reason to celebrate the ouster of Saddam Hussein’s regime. But it’s premature for the Bush administration to join in.
Despite the presence of U.S. troops in the center of Baghdad, does the world remain powerless to stop the ongoing invasion? The answer is no. Under a procedure called “Uniting for Peace,” the UN General Assembly can demand an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal. The global peace movement should consider demanding such an action, and support efforts already underway in the UN to enact such a resolution. On Tuesday, April 8, the Arab League formally requested a UN General Assembly meeting on the war in Iraq. The assembly’s General Committee will meet Friday, April 11 to consider the request.
In 2003 U.S. policy toward Africa will be driven almost exclusively by geopolitical considerations related to Washington’s war plans against Iraq, and by its geostrategic interests in African oil.
In Power Trip, editor and Foreign Policy In Focus advisory committee member John Feffer collects the work of leading legal, geopolitical and cultural analysts in one comprehensive volume.
If Secretary of State Colin Powell, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the U.S. public, and other moderates ever had any doubts about the extent to which the most hard-line hawks have captured U.S. foreign policy, President George W. Bush’s Wednesday night address on democratizing Iraq and the Arab Middle East should have dispelled them.
Roh Moo Hyun, the incoming South Korean president, is part of a trend that raises the hackles of the Bush administration. America now has another outspoken and uncowed “ally.” Roh joins an axis of independence that includes France’s Jacques Chirac and Germany’s Gerhard Schroeder. With friends like these, the Bush team laments, who needs an axis of evil? What’s bad for Bush, however, is a boon for the rest of the world and particularly for the Korean peninsula. Roh Moo Hyun is the world’s best hope for avoiding war in East Asia.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s presentation to the UN Security Council on February 5 wasn’t likely to win over anyone not already on his side. He ignored the crucial fact that in the past several days (in Sunday’s New York Times and in his February 4th briefing of UN journalists) Hans Blix denied key components of Powell’s claims.