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Thank you, President Bush
By Paulo Coelho
The author is a Brazilian writer.
This article was originally published in Portuguese on the Open Democracy Web
site, at www.opendemocracy.net
Thank you, great leader George W. Bush.
Thank you for showing everyone what a danger Saddam Hussein represents. Many
of us might otherwise have forgotten that he used chemical weapons against his
own people, against the Kurds and against the Iranians. Hussein is a bloodthirsty
dictator and one of the clearest expressions of evil in today's world.
But this is not my only reason for thanking you. During the first two months
of 2003, you have shown the world a great many other important things and, therefore,
deserve my gratitude.
So, I want to say thank you.
Thank you for showing everyone that the Turkish people and their parliament
are not for sale, not even for 26 billion dollars. Thank you for revealing to
the world the gulf that exists between the decisions made by those in power
and the wishes of the people.
Thank you for making it clear that neither Jose Maria Aznar nor Tony Blair give
the slightest weight to or show the slightest respect for the votes they received.
Aznar is perfectly capable of ignoring the fact that 90 percent of Spaniards
are against the war, and Blair is unmoved by the largest public demonstration
to take place in England in the last 30 years.
Thank you for making it necessary for Blair to go to the British parliament
with a fabricated dossier written by a student 10 years ago, and present this
as "damning evidence collected by the British Secret Service."
Thank you for allowing Colin Powell to make a complete fool of himself by showing
the UN Security Council photos which, one week later, were publicly challenged
by Hans Blix, the inspector responsible for disarming Iraq.
Thank you for adopting your current position and thus ensuring that, at the
plenary session, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin's antiwar speech
was greeted with applause - something, as far as I know, that has only happened
once before in the history of the UN, after a speech by Nelson Mandela.
Thank you too, because, after all your efforts to promote war, the normally
divided Arab nations, at their meeting in Cairo during the last week in February,
were, for the first time, unanimous in their condemnation of any invasion.
Thank you for your rhetoric stating that "the UN now has a chance to demonstrate
its relevance," a statement which made even the most reluctant countries
take up a position opposing any attack on Iraq.
Thank you for your foreign policy which provoked British Foreign Secretary Jack
Straw into declaring that in the 21st century, "a war can have a moral
justification," thus causing him to lose all credibility.
Thank you for trying to divide a Europe that is currently struggling for unification;
this was a warning that will not go unheeded.
Thank you for having achieved something that very few have so far managed to
do in this century: bringing together millions of people on all continents to
fight for the same idea, even though that idea is opposed to yours.
Thank you for making us feel once more that though our words may not be heard,
they are at least spoken - this will make us stronger in the future.
Thank you for ignoring us, for marginalizing all those who oppose your decision,
because the future of the planet belongs to the excluded. Thank you, because,
without you, we would not have realized our own ability to mobilize. It may
serve no purpose this time, but it will doubtless be useful later on.
Now that there seems no way of silencing the drums of war, I would like to say,
as an ancient European king said to an invader: "May your morning be a
beautiful one, may the sun shine on your soldiers' armor, for in the afternoon,
I will defeat you."
Thank you for allowing us - an army of anonymous people filling the streets
in an attempt to stop a process that is already underway - to know what it feels
like to be powerless and to learn to grapple with that feeling and transform
it.
So, enjoy your morning and whatever glory it may yet bring you.
Thank you for not listening to us and not taking us seriously, but know that
we are listening to you and that we will not forget your words.
Thank you, great leader George W. Bush.
Thank you very much.
"World Peace is us. We are each walking agents
of the vision of peace we carry inside us."
~ Kathleen V. Kiett
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