War against Iraq: World reaction - Russia

Tim Brown says: "I see not logical link whatsoever between whether a country is for or against us in Iraq and whether or not there have been demonstrations in that country, much less elsewhere. By that definition, the United States itself is opposed to its own policy, since we have had protest demonstrations and some political leaders have spoken out in opposition to it. Were the presence or absence of demonstrations and their size to be the decisive factor in a political situation, the Soviet Union, because it helped orchestrate so many demonstrations throughout the non-Communist world for decades, would have won the Cold War, and the most important political event on the day the Iraq war started took place in Belgrade not Baghdad, where an estimated 500,000 people demonstrated concerning the assassination of the Serbia president, not in San Francisco where a few hundred, or at most maybe 2,000, did so against the war. Frankly, I've been present at dozens of demonstrations in almost a dozen countries that were much,. much larger, more spirited, and far more effective that anything I've seen so far in the US or Western Europe".

RH: After Vietnam, Colin Powell said the US would not to to war again unless it had the full support of the American public and had overwhelming force, ensuring prompt victory. The attack on Iraq may have met the second, but not the first condition. It is obvious that the governments of France, Germany, Russia and China have been influenced by public opinion. A Pentagon spokesman said that, had one helicopter crashed, it would have been as large as the helicopter attack in Vietnam. The allusion was unfortunate. If the war drags on, there will be Vietnam-like protests. If, as I hope, the US is quickly victorious, watch for world opinion to turn, and the four governments to modify their position. Nothing succeeds like success.

Paul Simon says that, in addition to the Czech Republic, Poland has sent troops as well. RH: In all three cases, either the Western media are ungracious in not mentioning them, or they have little significance. We need more details. If the US is victorious, those governments will play up their participation. If the war drags on, they will play it down. Probably the US has offered bribes to get the 40 governments to come out for the US. Someone should write a variant on the Ali Baba story.

Ronald Hilton - 3/21/03