-Caveat Lector- http://truthout.org/docs_03/040703H.shtml
Blair and Friends Staring Into War's Political Abyss By Paul Daley Sidney Morning Herald Saturday 05 April 2003 As the Iraq war enters its third week, European leaders who supported America's push to disarm Saddam Hussein with or without the support of the United Nations are beginning to count a heavy political cost. None more so than the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who six months ago sometimes looked close to a decade younger than his 50 years. Today, the firm flesh around Mr Blair's cheeks and eyes has noticeably sagged, his hair appears greyer and thinner and he is visibly wearing each of his 50 years. Sections of the British union movement, already deeply suspicious of Mr Blair, are openly calling for Labour to remove him as leader, over Iraq and a range of domestic policy issues. Mr Blair is a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. His troops are dying in ever greater numbers alongside - and too often at the hands of - their US counterparts. Public support for the war is drifting the longer it proceeds. Support for Mr Blair in his own Labour Party is becoming flimsier by the day. Mr Blair tied his political fortunes to the Bush Administration's when he made it clear Britain would support the forced disarmament of Iraq without a second UN Security Council resolution. He then survived one of the biggest parliamentary mutinies in history after convincing waverers in his party that the war against Iraq would be quick, relatively bloodless and Iraqi soldiers would throw down their weapons in droves to embrace their liberators. "If the war is quick, lasting a month or so, and we move on to sorting out the Palestine-Israel problem then I think people will say that the Prime Minister was right," a prominent backbench Blair supporter reportedly said this week. "If this war is still going on in three months' time, then I think there will be acute concern." But having committed 40,000 personnel to Iraq, Mr Blair is not afforded the luxury of other European leaders like Italy's Silvio Berlusconi. A vocal supporter of the US before the war, he may well have been spooked by the mass anti-war protests across his country in the past fortnight. Initially he said that the US could have overfly rights and access to NATO bases in Italy. A fierce public backlash later prompted him to qualify support with an assurance that no attacks on Iraq would originate in Italy. "We can see the negative trends not only for Mr Berlusconi himself but his party ... But I don't think at the end of the day they will bring big damage to the coalition Mr Berlusconi is leading," Lucio Caracciolo, editor of the influential political periodical Limes, said. Mr Berlusconi is trying to balance loyalty to the US with passionate opposition to the war from Italy's Catholic majority - an opposition which has strengthened with the Pope's anti-war position. Spain's Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar, is realising just how much, in domestic political terms, he could pay for casting himself as the third man - alongside Mr Bush and Mr Blair - in the countdown to the war. The most recent poll, by his state's official pollsters, showed that 91 per cent of Spanish voters were opposed to their country's support for the war. The Aznar Government's popularity has slumped massively in recent months. In Portugal, which also supported US policy, the Foreign Minister was clearly trying to distance himself from the military campaign by pointing out that "Portugal has not declared war on Iraq". In Germany, the economy might be flat-lining, but Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder won moderate electoral gain and media support after his decision to become the first European leader to openly challenge America's Iraq policy. Germany has allowed wounded coalition troops to be evacuated to Germany and as the war becomes protracted, bloody and ugly, Mr Schroeder has resisted any gloating. Despite all the evidence of years of corruption and his prior reputation as a policy flake, France's President Jacques Chirac's staunch anti-war position has made it the most popular government position in France since 1938. Mr Chirac has ignored the wave of anti-French sentiment from the US Government and the British media which followed his decision to vote against forced disarmament of the Iraqi regime unless weapons inspectors were given more time. Now he has made it his duty to ensure the UN - rather than the US - takes the lead role in administering postwar Iraq before self-government. And in so-called "new Europe" - that is, the countries lining up for European Union membership - there is widespread caution even among those nations which the US is promoting as "coalition" members. Croatia has denounced the war as illegitimate, the Czech Republic's previously strong support is waning and the Polish Government faces criticism over its decision to commit a small number of elite troops. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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