Spanish oppose war in Iraq

On the brink of being rejected by the UN, George Bush and his

faithful administration worked night and day to fabricate a pretext

for war. He then ordered the troops that were stationed in Kuwait

to invade Iraq – picking up where his father had left

off.

What they mustered up was a list of supportive, mostly Third

World countries, some dubious satellite shots of weapons of mass

destruction (such a magician, that Colin Powell), and testimonial

praise for the “Good Cause.” I am currently traveling

through Spain, so I would like to focus on the first pillar of the

pretext – International Support.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar declared his support for

U.S. action early on, much to the dismay of Spaniards. Some of the

largest “manifestaciones” of anti-war emotion have

occurred on the streets of Spain. I witnessed one, of at least

100,000 people, last Saturday in Barcelona.

Whether in Pais Vasco, Galicia, Catalunya, Valencia, Navarra or

Andalucia, it is not uncommon to see banners draped from apartment

windows or bar walls, graffiti or stickers attached to various

objects, bearing the words, “No A La Guerra” (No to the

War), with a picture of a falling bomb with a slash through it.

The reality of Spanish sentiment is quite clear – that

despite the pro-war gestures of their government, Spanish,

Galician, Basque and Catalan people do not support this war.

Some will argue that international protest is deeply rooted in

and explained by simple anti-Americanism, or jealousy for our

uniquely free and democratic society. This is completely unfounded.

Others argue that it’s about economics; that Europe has

financial interests in Iraq. Although this is true of some European

governments, it ignores the fact that the rest of the world opposes

the war.

The vast majority are people unaffiliated with and unaffected by

the economic interests. They couldn’t care less about oil

contracts (oil is already expensive and many rely on very efficient

alternate means of transportation), and are protesting on the basic

principle of morality. Indeed, children and the elderly, who

vividly recall the fascist reign of Franco, are representing their

country in protest. A woman around my age – 20 – told

me that polls have indicated a 20/80 (20 percent in support; 80

percent against) split over the issue of support for the war, and

even that is a conservative estimate, as young people are left out.

While this is not concrete evidence, everyone I’ve spoken to,

everything I’ve read and everything I’ve seen

personally has reaffirmed it.

Here in Spain, much like the rest of Europe and even Canada,

personal stories and photographs of the damage inflicted upon Iraq

can be seen in various newspapers and on television-news programs.

The American media deliberately avoids those things. In the United

States, we are bombarded by comparatively small numbers of American

casualties, without ever a mention of Iraqi suffering. We are left

to wonder if there are even real faces in that far-off country that

our military is attacking.

As for the other countries that are proudly advertised on

Bush’s grocery list, they only reflect governmental and

superficial acquiescence. Millions of people in countries like

Britain are taking to the streets to remind the politicians that

the common people are not being properly represented.

Algeria, an ardent U.S. ally in Bush’s pocket, was

welcomed in on the War on Terror, despite the fact that it is a

home base for some of the world’s worst terrorist cells. It

lent military aid to fight terrorists in Afghanistan.

Furthermore, all of the “supportive” countries

jumped on the bandwagon (a very small one), because they were

either bribed with loans or threatened by U.S. preeminence in the

U.N. Security Counsel. In the case of Turkey and Israel, support

for the war presented an excuse for stepped-up oppression of Kurds

and Palestinians, respectively.

Spain is just one of more than 100 countries, representing

billions of people worldwide, that is against war in Iraq. War,

even when engaged in with the best of intentions, has always

resulted in an overshadowing of the perceived enemy by the

“Good Guys,” from the Peloponnesian War to World War II

to the war in Afghanistan. Our government professes to value

freedom and democracy, yet ignores the opinion of many Americans

and a majority of the world. This war is wrong.

Justin Hurst, Student

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