Mumia Abu-Jamal's Radio Broadcasts

What the Rest of the World Thinks

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[Col. recorded 10/4/03]

What the rest of the world thinks, continued. In the aftermath of the Iraq disaster with no so-called "weapons of mass destruction" found and with the growing loss of life, the Americans are trying to find some other sucker to support their occupation. If editorials from major papers around the world are any indication, the Bush administration's latest candid is going over it like a lead balloon.

While doubtless, these opinions aren't usually exposed to Americans, I'll try to select some interesting ones that will give us some insight into how the world's elite think about the bungle in Baghdad. It's telling that a paper from a nation allied with the US led attacks seems critical of the mission. Paul Kelly of Sydney's conservative paper The Australian writes:

"For the United States, Iraq was a war of choice that is imposing an unacceptable price on the United States Political system. The Bush hardliners are trapped- the choice they face is between the weakly standards logic of more pain to keep US control or the Colin Powell, Richard Armitige line of cutting a deal to internationalize post war Iraq"

A surprisingly similar view came from a paper published in the capital of another member of the so-called "Coalition of the Willing." Madrid's liberal El Paiz of Sept 4th made its point plainly " The United States can no longer act alone in post war Iraq, out of convenience rather than conviction, and without any sign of self-criticism Bush has decided to turn toward the UN which he had denigrated as irrelevant"

Tokyo's center-left paper The Isa-heshibun of August 31st also didn't mince words "We believe the time is right for the United States and Britain to recognize the failure of the occupation strategy to date and speed up the process of forming a new government run by the Iraqi's themselves"

From Paris came a question that surely resonated worldwide. Charles Lambroshini writing in the conservative Le Figaro of September 5th asked "Why should France spill her soldier's blood and sacrifice its diplomatic credibility simply to guarantee the re-election of George W. Bush? The reality is that the US having failed in its post-war planning is only trying to make others share a burden it finds increasingly heavy"

The privately owned Swahili-language newspaper En dere Salam Magera of August 29th offered the following opinions scripted by Majid Enjuenga
"The ability of the United States to win a military war against Sadaam was not in doubt, but the ability of the United States to restore peace in Iraq was a different matter all together."

Today Iraq is under the rule of the army that won the war against it, but the country is still not peaceful. Egyptian journalist Salaama Ama-Salaama writes in the Cairo Daily Alaran , September 4th that the occupation is failing : "Many observers believe that security in Iraq will not be achieved until the UN is given a mandate to supervise the phase of political transition. This is something the American administration seems belatedly; to be beginning to comprehend as the occupying forces increasingly lose their grip on Iraq and violence and terrorism escalate under the rule of Paul Bremmer"

The Colombian daily El Tiempo of September 3rd seems to echo Spain's view as expressed by Victor Manuel Vargas "The call for UN Help comes from the same president George W. Bush who a year ago, referred to this organization as 'an irrelevant debating society' the explanation of such irony can be summarized in the form of a classified ad: "Super-power in trouble seeks endorsement of prestigious international organization to turn its military occupation into a reconstruction operation and a multi-national peace effort"

In Nairobi's Independent Weekly:The East African of August 25th-31st, editorial writer El Mufoni Wanyeke wrote: "Only a new resolution by the UN security council establishing a multi-lateral force would firmly address the current security situation in Iraq. Such a resolution would establish a mandate that goes beyond the use of the UN to prop up the American and British troops and deal with the humanitarian disaster enhanced by the illegal war."

Those are some of the thoughts from some of the leading newspapers in the world, almost all of them critical of the Bush adventure in Iraq. The administration received little support before the war from the international community; its conduct on the world stage has hardly attracted more support form the post-war effort. The world knows what it sees and it doesn't like it. It recognizes it, the shadow of colonialism.

From Death Row, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal

Copyright 2003 Mumia Abu-Jamal

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Text © copyright 2003 by Mumia Abu-Jamal.
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Reprinted by permission of the author.