Re: [A-List] US imperialism: Consequences of War

["annewilliamson" <annewilliamson@xxxxxxx>]

Tariq:

I was gape-mouthed when I read of this new alliance.
It really is a shocking development,
and we on the A-List need your on site reports
more than ever....I notice there wasn't much
follow on coverage in the Western press, perhaps
more is coming -- but this is a development I'm just
not knowledgeable enough myself to get my arms
around.  It's very alarming.

Please keep us informed.

Anne


----- Original Message -----
From: "Tariq Mahmood" <zaogir@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <a-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 1:26 AM
Subject: Re: [A-List] US imperialism: Consequences of War


Anne,

Add to it the wedding together of India and Iran in a defence agreement
signed a week before Iranian President Khatami visited Delhi to witness
Indian weapons being paraded on Indian Republic Day, January 26. It sounds
rather strange, India nuzzling close to the US and Iran a proclaimed foe to
be under one blanket.

And I foresee an epochal change taking place of regimes in the region. There
will be fewer kings controlling the masses for the US. The US might have to
come in direct confrontation with the people.

Tariq
-------------
"annewilliamson" <annewilliamson@xxxxxxx> said:

 For Monday, February 10, 2003

  Consequences Of War

 I have no doubt that George Bush will launch an attack on Iraq, with or
without United Nations Security Council approval. I have no doubt that the
United States will win the war, though some Iraqi defectors have said
recently that it might not be as easy as American officials think. But we
will win.

 So let's look at what the consequences are likely to be:

 1. American lives will be lost. I've heard some military brass refer to the
146 killed in the first Gulf War as "negligible." I personally don't think
the loss of even one American life is negligible. I think the casualties
will be much higher. The fact that Iraqi soldiers ran from Kuwait - whose
invasion they didn't think much of in the first place - doesn't mean that
they will run away from defending their homes, their wives and their
children.
>
> 2. America will be morally discredited. We will have attacked a country
with a population of 20 million that did not attack us. Nobody in the world
except politicians in Washington and London (if them) believe that Iraq, so
terribly weakened by the Gulf War and the sanctions, is a threat to anybody.
How can President Bush keep saying Iraq is a threat to its neighbors, much
less the world, when Iraq's neighbors keep saying, "No, it is not a threat"?
Every one of Iraq's neighbors - Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iran
and, most especially, Israel - is more powerful than Iraq.
>
> 3. The Islamic world will be enraged, and that's more than 1 billion
people. Terrorism directed against the United States will be increased, not
decreased. However we see it, the war will be seen as an attack against
Islam, as an attempt by the United States to recolonize the Arab world and
to establish between ourselves and Israel domination and hegemony.
>
> 4. The United States will be tied down in Iraq for a year or more. We
should learn from the Israeli experience. They went into Lebanon like a hot
knife through butter, but they found that they couldn't stay. We will find
out the same thing in Iraq. Even if we install a puppet government, we'll
have to prop it up or else it will be overthrown.
>
> 5. The war will cost us between $100 billion and $200 billion. The
president has not budgeted for that expense. The war and its likely effect
on oil prices will certainly damage and could wreck our economy. Nobody is
going to help us pay for it. The Arabs in the Gulf States are already saying
to America about Iraq, "You break it, you buy it."
>
> 6. The Middle East will be destabilized - to what extent, it's impossible
to predict. Some now-friendly governments could be overthrown. Nearly all
will be forced to change their attitude toward the United States to appease
their people. The forces of extremism will be greatly strengthened, and the
moderates will be greatly weakened and perhaps rendered completely
ineffective. Again, we should learn from the Israelis. They have not been
able to kill their way to security and peace. Every time they crush an enemy
militarily, they generate more and more hatred. The Middle East is not a
region where memories are short or where forgiveness has much of a standing
Revenge is deeply imbedded in the culture of that region.
>
> 7. Finally, the United States will have served notice on every other
country in the world that it will launch a pre-emptive attack against any
country it imagines might be a threat, directly or indirectly, in the
future. If you want a formula for a dangerous, unstable world, that's it. No
country in the world will trust us again.
----
> © 2003 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.