Stop the war, Prevent a disaster!

The American administration is planning a war on Iraq.

I think the previous Bush administration tried to pass a message to Iraq after its invasion to Kuwait that violence is intolerable. Iraq, like many nations, possesses weapons of mass destruction. But Iraq did not raise any threat to use those weapons in recent years, nor did it show an inclination to exert violence towards any other nation since the gulf war.

The American administration does not try to explain its military motivation nor does it back it up with hard evidence linking Iraq to any specific and actual threat.

The Bush administration seems determined to use violence against Iraq (and possibly other Arab nations) irrespectively of its level of cooperation, proclaimed threats or otherwise substantiated violent intentions. What follows this line of reasoning (or luck thereof) is that any country could legitimately find itself under a similarly arbitrary threat (or impose such) for no apparent reason. I find this very troubling.

It seems as though the current Washington administration’s policy regarding the middle east is regressing back to the patronizing thinking and methods used by some administrations in the cold war era. That is, the reliance upon the use of American military power and intervention and the establishment of artificial, short lived, dummy regimes backed by constant American presence and the use of less than democratic means of rein.

Needless to say, those methods did not lead to any deep change within those countries and only happened to result in constant friction, instability, human suffering, death and agony to all parties involved. (A good example, but only one amongst many is the Vietnam case).

Even more troubling is what seems to be a deeper, rarely disclosed motivation behind this violent inclination radiating from Washington.

It seems as though the agenda and narrative of the extreme Christian right, which regards the arab/muslim nationality as a fundamentally evil and dangerous entity being an obstacle to messianic redemption, has overtaken the current administration. This euro-centric, religiously motivated view of affairs and the megalomaniac political plan it entails imposes threats to the stability of moderate Arab regimes and thus could lead to an explosive materialization of its most paranoid assumptions.

I call upon this government to go back to rational and careful analysis of events, to a responsible, balanced policy based upon reason, fact and deeds. I call upon George Bush to lead an open dialog with all parties involved and to motivate change by example, good partnership, friendly spirit and positive reinforcement.