Here's a link to an article by Jay Bookman, the deputy editorial page editor of
The AtlantaJournal-Constitution, dated 9/29/2002, which may help clarify why
George Dubya is so willing to ignore the negative public opinion he's been
getting in regard to his invasion of Iraq. It expounds on Bookman's perception of
The president's real goal in Iraq.
Thursday, March 20, 2003
Friday, March 14, 2003
I received an email today, forwarding the content of a hope-filled speech by
Dr. Robert Muller, former assistant secretary general of the United
Nations. The email did a poor job, however, of making clear what was
directly quoted and what was not, so I went to Google news to look for a
cleaner copy of the speech. Much to my surprise, it was not cited online
anywhere. I finally tracked it down in one solitary entry in a newsgroup:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Robert Muller, former assistant secretary general of the United
Nations, now Chancellor emeritus of the University of Peace in Costa Rica
was one of the people who witnessed the founding of the U.N. and has
worked in support of or inside the U.N. ever since. Recently he was in San
Francisco to be honored for his service to the world through the U.N. and
through his writings and teachings for peace. At age eighty, Dr. Muller
surprised, even stunned, many in the audience that day with his most
positive assessment of where the world stands now regarding war and
peace.
I was there at the gathering and I myself was stunned by his remarks.
What he said turned my head around and offered me a new way to see
what is going on in the world. My synopsis of his remarks is below:
"I'm so honored to be here," he said. "I'm so honored to be alive at such
a miraculous time in history. I'm so moved by what's going on in our world
today."
Dr. Muller proceeded to say, "Never before in the history of the world has
there been a global, visible, public, viable, open dialogue and conversation
about the very legitimacy of war".
The whole world is in now having this critical and historic dialogue -
listening to all kinds of points of view and positions about going to war or
not going to war. In a huge global public conversation the world is asking
- "Is war legitimate? Is it illegitimate? Is there enough evidence to warrant
an attack? Is there not enough evidence to warrant an attack? What will be
the consequences? The costs? What will happen after a war? How will this
set off other conflicts? What might be peaceful alternatives? What kind of
negotiations are we not thinking of? What are the real intentions for
declaring war?"
All of this, he noted, is taking place in the context of the United Nations
Security Council, the body that was established in 1949 for exactly this
purpose. He pointed out that it has taken us more than fifty years to
realize that function, the real function of the U.N. And at this moment in
history - the United Nations is at the center of the stage. It is the place
where these conversations are happening, and it has become in these last
months and weeks, the most powerful governing body on earth, the most
powerful container for the world's effort to wage peace rather than war.
Dr. Muller was almost in tears in recognition of the fulfillment of this dream.
"We are not at war," he kept saying. We, the world community, are
WAGING peace. It is difficult, hard work. It is constant and we must not let
up. It is working and it is an historic milestone of immense proportions. It
has never happened before-never in human history-and it is happening
now-every day every hour-waging peace through a global conversation. He
pointed out that the conversation questioning the validity of going to war
has gone on for hours, days, weeks, months and now more than a year,
and it may go on and on. "We're in peacetime," he kept saying. "Yes,
troops are being moved. Yes, warheads are being lined up. Yes, the
aggressor is angry and upset and spending a billion dollars a day
preparing to attack. But not one shot has been fired. Not one life has been
lost. There is no war. It's all a conversation."
It is tense, it is tough, it is challenging, AND we are in the most significant
and potent global conversation and public dialogue in the history of the
world. This has not happened before on this scale ever before - not before
WWI or WWII, not before Vietnam or Korea, this is new and it is a
stunning new era of Global listening, speaking, and responsibility.
In the process, he pointed out, new alliances are being formed. Russia and
China on the same side of an issue is an unprecedented outcome. France
and Germany working together to wake up the world to a new way of
seeing the situation. The largest peace demonstrations in the history of
the world are taking place--and we are not at war! Most peace
demonstrations in recent history took place when a war was already
waging, sometimes for years, as in the case of Vietnam.
"So this," he said, "is a miracle. This is what "waging peace " looks
like." No matter what happens, history will record that this is a new era,
and that the 21st century has been initiated with the world in a global
dialogue looking deeply, profoundly and responsibly as a global
community at the legitimacy of the actions of a nation that is desperate
to go to war.
Through these global peace-waging efforts, the leaders of that nation are
being engaged in further dialogue, forcing them to rethink, and allowing
all nations to participate in the serious and horrific decision to go to war or
not.
Dr. Muller also made reference to a recent New York Times article that
pointed out that up until now there has been just one superpower - the
United States, and that that has created a kind of blindness in the vision
of the U.S. But now, Dr. Muller asserts, there are two superpowers: the
United States and the merging, surging voice of the people of the world.
All around the world, people are waging peace. To Robert Muller, one of
the great advocates of the United Nations, it is nothing short of a miracle
and it is working.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Robert Muller, former assistant secretary general of the United
Nations. The email did a poor job, however, of making clear what was
directly quoted and what was not, so I went to Google news to look for a
cleaner copy of the speech. Much to my surprise, it was not cited online
anywhere. I finally tracked it down in one solitary entry in a newsgroup:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Robert Muller, former assistant secretary general of the United
Nations, now Chancellor emeritus of the University of Peace in Costa Rica
was one of the people who witnessed the founding of the U.N. and has
worked in support of or inside the U.N. ever since. Recently he was in San
Francisco to be honored for his service to the world through the U.N. and
through his writings and teachings for peace. At age eighty, Dr. Muller
surprised, even stunned, many in the audience that day with his most
positive assessment of where the world stands now regarding war and
peace.
I was there at the gathering and I myself was stunned by his remarks.
What he said turned my head around and offered me a new way to see
what is going on in the world. My synopsis of his remarks is below:
"I'm so honored to be here," he said. "I'm so honored to be alive at such
a miraculous time in history. I'm so moved by what's going on in our world
today."
Dr. Muller proceeded to say, "Never before in the history of the world has
there been a global, visible, public, viable, open dialogue and conversation
about the very legitimacy of war".
The whole world is in now having this critical and historic dialogue -
listening to all kinds of points of view and positions about going to war or
not going to war. In a huge global public conversation the world is asking
- "Is war legitimate? Is it illegitimate? Is there enough evidence to warrant
an attack? Is there not enough evidence to warrant an attack? What will be
the consequences? The costs? What will happen after a war? How will this
set off other conflicts? What might be peaceful alternatives? What kind of
negotiations are we not thinking of? What are the real intentions for
declaring war?"
All of this, he noted, is taking place in the context of the United Nations
Security Council, the body that was established in 1949 for exactly this
purpose. He pointed out that it has taken us more than fifty years to
realize that function, the real function of the U.N. And at this moment in
history - the United Nations is at the center of the stage. It is the place
where these conversations are happening, and it has become in these last
months and weeks, the most powerful governing body on earth, the most
powerful container for the world's effort to wage peace rather than war.
Dr. Muller was almost in tears in recognition of the fulfillment of this dream.
"We are not at war," he kept saying. We, the world community, are
WAGING peace. It is difficult, hard work. It is constant and we must not let
up. It is working and it is an historic milestone of immense proportions. It
has never happened before-never in human history-and it is happening
now-every day every hour-waging peace through a global conversation. He
pointed out that the conversation questioning the validity of going to war
has gone on for hours, days, weeks, months and now more than a year,
and it may go on and on. "We're in peacetime," he kept saying. "Yes,
troops are being moved. Yes, warheads are being lined up. Yes, the
aggressor is angry and upset and spending a billion dollars a day
preparing to attack. But not one shot has been fired. Not one life has been
lost. There is no war. It's all a conversation."
It is tense, it is tough, it is challenging, AND we are in the most significant
and potent global conversation and public dialogue in the history of the
world. This has not happened before on this scale ever before - not before
WWI or WWII, not before Vietnam or Korea, this is new and it is a
stunning new era of Global listening, speaking, and responsibility.
In the process, he pointed out, new alliances are being formed. Russia and
China on the same side of an issue is an unprecedented outcome. France
and Germany working together to wake up the world to a new way of
seeing the situation. The largest peace demonstrations in the history of
the world are taking place--and we are not at war! Most peace
demonstrations in recent history took place when a war was already
waging, sometimes for years, as in the case of Vietnam.
"So this," he said, "is a miracle. This is what "waging peace " looks
like." No matter what happens, history will record that this is a new era,
and that the 21st century has been initiated with the world in a global
dialogue looking deeply, profoundly and responsibly as a global
community at the legitimacy of the actions of a nation that is desperate
to go to war.
Through these global peace-waging efforts, the leaders of that nation are
being engaged in further dialogue, forcing them to rethink, and allowing
all nations to participate in the serious and horrific decision to go to war or
not.
Dr. Muller also made reference to a recent New York Times article that
pointed out that up until now there has been just one superpower - the
United States, and that that has created a kind of blindness in the vision
of the U.S. But now, Dr. Muller asserts, there are two superpowers: the
United States and the merging, surging voice of the people of the world.
All around the world, people are waging peace. To Robert Muller, one of
the great advocates of the United Nations, it is nothing short of a miracle
and it is working.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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