It's clear at this point that no amount of protest will dissuade the Bush administration from its chosen course. International law, the protests of allies, and a deeply divided public at home have not mattered one iota in the decision process that has taken place in the echo chamber that George Bush calls his cabinet. Colin Powell's vaunted diplomatic skills have been castrated by the callousness of the rest of the Bush administration's senior hands, and it seems his credibility within the White House is all but spent.
So, what is to be done? What action can a patriotic, law-abiding, dissident against war in Iraq do? Simply standing with a placard no longer seems to be an option. Active protests, like passive resistance and civil disobedience, are a step that few in the working middle class are currently prepared to undertake–especially when it appears that public opinion matters not one iota to the guy in the White House with cotton stuffed in his ears. The strawman of “supporting our troops” is trotted out in opposition to any sort of dissent now. It recalls a quote I once saw…
“Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”
Who said that? Hermann Goering, at the Nuremburg war-crime trials.
Sean M. Gallagher 