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Millions Give Dramatic
Rebuff to US War Plans
Agence France Press
February 16th, 2003
Weekend protests worldwide by millions of anti-war activists delivered
a stinging rebuke to Washington and its allies on their hard-line
advance towards war.
The unprecedented wave of demonstrations, involving eight million
to 11.5 million people, according to various estimates, further
clouded US war plans a day after they suffered a diplomatic setback
at the United Nations.
Significantly, some of the biggest rallies were held in countries
which have strongly supported the pledge by US President George
W. Bush to use force if necessary to strip Iraq of suspected weapons
of mass destruction.
In Sydney Sunday, Prime Minister John Howard was greeted upon his
return from a nine-day trip that took him to the United States and
Britain by the largest anti-war demonstration ever seen in Australia.
An estimated 250,000 people filled the streets of the antipodean
nation's largest city, following on from demonstrations that began
Friday in Melbourne and cropped up from Brisbane to Canberra.
A crowd estimated by organizers to be three million-strong marched
through Rome to condemn Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's backing
of Washington. More than five million people turned out in separate
demonstrations in Spain, protest leaders said.
Even Britain, the staunchest US ally, saw at least 750,000 people
tramp through London in the country's biggest protest ever to give
their government's stance the thumbs down. Organizers put the figure
at more than two million.
"If we don't stand up and say no to Bush, he thinks he can do what
he likes because he's got the most powerful military and economy
in the world," said Nick Lobnitz, a 24-year-old Briton.
Demonstrators turned out in droves Saturday in New York, where organizers
expected more than 100,000 people as the focal point of the largest
display so far of US public opposition to an attack on Iraq.
The White House, which appears to have been rattled by the surge
in resistance to its calls for quick military action, was low key
in its response to Saturday's massive display of pacifist feeling.
"The president is a strong advocate of freedom and democracy, and
one of the democratic values that we hold dear is the right of the
people to peaceably assemble to express their views," said Jeanie
Mamo, a spokeswoman.
Mamo also stressed that Bush views the military option in Iraq "as
a last resort. He still hopes for a peaceful resolution, and that
is up to (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein."
There were other signs the US march toward war was losing steam,
at least for the moment, after most members of the UN Security Council
urged Friday that UN weapons inspectors be given more time to do
their work in Iraq.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair sounded a conciliatory note Saturday
after a relatively upbeat report issued by chief UN arms inspector
Hans Blix on Iraqi cooperation in his search for chemical and biological
arms.
"There will be more time given to inspections," and Blix will report
back to the Security Council on February 28, Blair told a Labour
Party conference in Scotland. But he added the crisis cannot be
allowed to drag on forever.
A senior diplomat at the United Nations in New York said an early
Security Council vote on a resolution to authorize the use of force
against Iraq looked unlikely after Friday's show of support for
more inspections.
The diplomat, who asked not to be named, acknowledged the anti-war
camp was likely to gain more support at an open council meeting
scheduled for Tuesday, when non-members will be allowed to take
the floor.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and the president of the European
Commission, Romano Prodi, also voiced their support for UN weapons
inspectors to continue their work in Iraq.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who backed Bush in the war
in Afghanistan, told him by telephone Friday that a strike against
Iraq is "not a good option," officials in Islamabad said Saturday.
From Baghdad, papal envoy Cardinal Roger Etchegaray told Italian
television after a two-hour meeting with Saddam that the Iraqi leader
felt "more relieved" after Friday's report by the UN disarmament
inspectors.
"He is doing everything to avoid war," said Etchegaray, who brought
Saddam a personal message from Pope John Paul II. "He is the first
to be concerned. He is the first to be mobilizing all his energies
to avoid war."
Saddam's deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz, a Christian, spent Saturday
morning in Assisi praying at the tomb of St Francis as part of a
peace ceremony organized by an Italian Catholic Foundation outside
the anti-war march.
Arab foreign ministers met in Cairo to discuss the crisis. Egypt
said an extraordinary Arab summit on Iraq and the Palestinian question
would be held at the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh in the week
beginning February 22.
The United States has already deployed some 150,000 troops in the
Gulf region in anticipation of a move against Iraq but is still
trying to win the approval of Turkey to use its soil to mount a
northern front.
Turkey is seeking NATO's assistance to prepare for possible reprisals
by Iraq. But France, Belgium and Germany sparked a crisis within
the alliance by blocking such help until the issue of a war against
Baghdad was decided.
Diplomats in Brussels said NATO ambassadors should reach a compromise
in the dispute by Tuesday.
Copyright 2003 AFP
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