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SIMS/AFP-EPA-GREENPEACE
BRITAIN: Protesters chain themselves to Gulf-bound tanks
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War Torn |
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There's a new gulf in Europe — between pro-U.S. leaders and antiwar majorities in their countries
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By BRUCE CRUMLEY/Paris |
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Colin Powell may be the acceptable face of the Bush Administration in Europe, but that didn't help the Secretary of State or his cause last week. Despite Powell's bravura performance at the Security Council, the European public remains firmly against a U.S.-led war in Iraq — with or without the U.N.'s blessing. All last week protests bubbled up in unexpected places. At the Goyas — Spain's Oscars — a procession of actors and directors took the stage wearing antiwar stickers, badges and No guerra T shirts. In the European Parliament, a group of M.E.P.s unfurled a no war banner. And at Shannon Airport in Ireland, peace activists broke into a secure hangar and vandalized U.S. military aircraft — for the second time. "I grieved after the atrocity in New York," explains Shannon protester Tim Hourigan, 27. "Then I found out that the White House was going to do the same thing [to Iraq]."
There's a huge disconnect between the antiwar sentiment of most Europeans and the pragmatic, increasingly pro-war stance of their leaders. Despite glaring exceptions, such as French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, European heads of state are quietly getting behind President Bush's view that "the game is over" for Iraq — despite poll numbers that show unmistakable hostility to war. In the Netherlands, 72% oppose even U.N.-mandated action, according to a poll by the Amsterdam and Tilburg universities; in Spain, over 70% of those surveyed by Gallup say war is unjustified; in Italy, a Eurisko poll put the percentage opposed to military action at more than two-thirds. Yet in each of these countries the Prime Minister has expressed strong support for the U.S. approach. How did Europeans and their leaders drift so far apart?
In some ways, the situation now "is similar to the crisis in the 1980s, when Pershing missiles arrived in Europe," says Michael Gros, head of the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels. "The overwhelming opinion of the general public was against, but the German government at the time took the difficult decision to go ahead and was subsequently proved right. I think the leaders who have backed the U.S. will be proved right in the end."
These leaders say that if Iraq keeps hiding its weapons from the U.N. inspectors, wiretapping the inspectors themselves and refusing to disarm — as Powell persuasively argued it has been doing — then the U.S. and its allies will have no choice but to act. That's certainly the opinion of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, George W. Bush's strongest advocate in Europe despite widespread opposition within his country and dissent in his cabinet. Other leaders may be calculating that the Americans will do what they want anyway, so the smart play is to be by their side. But not Blair. "I do not want to be the Prime Minister when people point the finger back at history and say, 'You knew perfectly well that those threats were there and you did nothing about it,'" Blair told the House of Commons last week. He also calculates that public opposition will fade if the war is quick and relatively clean. If things go badly wrong, he knows he could find himself out of a job.
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