TankGrrl - Annotations On Life
| February 17, 2003 (You probably expected to be here.) |
| Truth, lies and damned lies |
In Australia, 150,000 people demonstrated in Melbourne on Friday, and 16,000 activists marched in Canberra, 10,000 in Perth, and 15,000 in Newcastle, north of Sydney, at the weekend. But by far Sydney's turnout of protesters was the largest in Australia's history.
Police said at least 200,000 people were present, but the sheer volume of people made it impossible to accurately gauge numbers.
The Age Feb. 17
The Prime Minister insists he will not be swayed by the human tide of protest against a war with Iraq - not by the more than 250,000 people who marched in Sydney yesterday, nor the 10 million who rallied worldwide.
Sydney Morning Herald Feb. 17
Yes... surely you can't judge public opinion by observing the public's expression of opinion...
Public opinion could not be measured by the hundreds of thousands of Australians who turned out at anti-war rallies over the weekend, Prime Minister John Howard said today.
...
"I don't know that you can measure public opinion just by the number of people who turn up to demonstrations," he told the Seven Network.
...
"This is not something where you read each opinion poll or you measure the number of people at demonstrations."
...
Former UN weapons inspector Richard Butler said he was astonished Mr Howard would openly admit to ignoring opinion polls and the public rallies.
The Age Feb. 16
Amen, Mr. Butler.
The White House said yesterday that President George Bush was still hoping to avert a war. "He still hopes for a peaceful resolution, and that is up to Saddam Hussein," said White House spokeswoman Jeanie Mamo.
The Age Feb. 16
The United States would soon abandon a diplomatic solution to the crisis over Iraq, White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said today, revealing Washington's frustration with resistance to a possible war.
The Age Feb. 17
And no one is the least bit surprised. We've come to expect half-truths from our leaders. Truth: Bush wants this war. He does not want 'peaceful resolution'. This war has been in planning since he took office. Sept. 11 gave him an public excuse to go ahead.
I bet the Stormwatch/CNNAmerica-at-War/CarChase media isn't reporting things like the British poll which showed 91% of Britons surveyed were against any sort of war with no UN backing. Or that 47% of Australians polled said 'bring the troops home' (24% said 'give Iraq more time'). I suppose they had to show the one million plus people who turned out to protest in London. Kind of hard to overlook that.
Even The Lord Mayor of London spoke up, "It's not about human rights. It's not about weapons of mass destruction. It's about who will control the second largest deposit of oil on the planet."
- 500,000 in Berlin
- 1,000,000 in Rome
- 200,000 at the UN
- 500,000+ in Australia this weekend
Bush lies. Powell lies (it breaks my heart to say that...). Howard and Blair lie. And, yes, Hussein lies. Bin Laden lies. But the people tell the truth. And the truth, I believe, is that they don't support this war. And they know there's more to it than 'moral obligation' on the part of a cadre of politicians whose morals are unknown to them. When Tony Blair, while explaining his ignoring of the protests, said that there would be no marches for the children who would die or the people who would suffer, that said it all for me; Yes, there have been Tony. And apparently you ignored them as well... They happened before you became suddenly righteous and indignant about Iraq and called for unleashing America's weapons of mass destruction upon it.
You don't speak for me, George Bush. You don't speak for me, John Howard. You speak for only for your agenda. And this time you haven't conned anough people into believing that your agenda is also their agenda. I hope you live out your old age in regret and contrition for what you're trying to do and will do. You won't be on Rushmore with Lincoln, George, you'll be a sad page in history like Nixon.
| Posted by Maggie at February 17, 2003 12:15 PM Comments (0) |