Blows beyond Iraq

MUCH of the world will be left to rue and regret at leisure the consequences of the "war" into which President George Bush rushed with indecent haste. In our own little country, the fallout of the US attack on Iraq is already being felt both in the deepening financial woes of BWIA and a further drop in occupancy levels of Tobago hotels. The hit on the national airline and the tourist industry resulting from the US onslaught on Iraq is doubly painful since they were both desperately struggling to recover from the significant drop in business which followed the September 11 2001 bombings in the US.

BWIA Corporate Communications Director Clint Williams described the airline's financial plight as "precarious", adding that drastic measures will have to be taken if the slide continues over the next few days. BWIA's dilemma comes at a time when major international carriers are projecting losses up to US$4 billion, 70,000 job cuts and more bankruptcies if the "war" drags on.  Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly Orville London said the island's tourist trade now faces a "distressing situation" as the sector had been clawing its way out a depression started three years ago.

But while the global industries of tourism and commercial aviation are being thrown into crises as a consequence of the uncertainties generated by Mr Bush's "war", a far more dangerous situation is developing in the deterioration and unravelling of traditional alliances and international relationships as the US uses its economic clout to create a "we-against-them" division within the world community. As agitation grows for a UN General Assembly debate on the US invasion of Iraq, with calls for a resolution seeking to stop the war, the US State Department is seeking to pressure countries — to the extent of actually issuing them with threats and warnings — into not speaking or voting against the US attack on Iraq.

In terms of global peace and harmony, this massive military action against Iraq will result in an historic and prolonged setback. Indeed, the suffering, death and destruction now being inflicted on that Middle East country and its people by the so-called "coalition forces" are serving only to intensify the hatred of the Muslim world for the US and the global opposition to this massive and totally unjustified attack by the only remaining "superpower".

For much of the world's population it is a recurring irony for Mr Bush and his cohorts to claim they are acting on behalf of the world community when the vast majority of the world community is thoroughly against their action, or attempt to justify their invasion of Iraq as a means of protecting the world from terrorism when they never had the sanction of the world or the UN Security Council to undertake such an invasion in the first place. This is really Mr Bush's "baby" with British PM Tony Blair assisting in the "delivery", and the purveyors are fooling no one when they talk of "coalition forces" which comprise a preponderance of US soldiers — some 280,000 with another 30,000 joining them — with some 20,000 British troops and about 2,000 from Australia. Nor can this overwhelming onslaught be correctly  termed "a war", although, in spite of the quick victory they anticipated, the invading forces with all their modern military equipment and strategic planning, are encountering surprisingly stiff opposition from Saddam Hussein's fighters.

We weep for the innocent people of Iraq and wonder how many more will be killed and maimed before this ridiculous conflict is over. And when it is, will the US allow the world community to play a part in Iraq's reconstruction?

Or will the US, contrary to its protestations, take over the running of that oil-rich country?