Thank you, President Bush

Thank you for showing everyone what a danger Saddam Hussein represents. Many of us might otherwise have gorgotten that he had used chemical weapons against his own people, against the kurds, and against the Iranians. Hussein is bloodthirsty dictator, and one of the clearest expressions of evil in today's world.

But this is not my only reason for thanking you. During the first two months of 2003, you have shown the world a great many other important things and, therefore,deserve my gratitude.

So,rememberring a poem I learned as a child, I want to say thank you.

Thank you for showing everyone that the Turkish people and their parliament are not for sale, not even for

26 billion dollars.

Thank you for revealing to the world that the gulf that exists between the decisions made by those in power and the wishes of the people. Thank you for making it clear that neither jose Maria Aznar not tony Blair give the slightest weight to, or show the slightest respect for, the votes they received. Aznar is perfectly capable of ignoring the fact that 90 percent of Spaniards are against the war, and Blair is unmoved by the largest public demonstration to take place in Britain in the last thirty years.

Thank you for making it necessary for Tony Blair to go to the British Parliament with a fabricated dossier written by a student ten years ago and present as 'damaging evidence collected by the British Secret Service.'

Thank you for sending Colin Powell to the UN Security Council with proof and photographs, thus allowing for these to be publicly refuted one week later by Hans Blinx, the Inspector responsible for disarming Iraq.

Thank you for adopting your current position, thus ensuring that, at the plenary session, the anti-war speech of the French Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin, was greeted with applause- something, as far as I know, that has only happened once before in the history of the UN, on the occasion of a speech by Nelson Mandela.

Thank you, too, because, After all your efforts to promote war, the normally divided Arab nations, at their meeting in Cairo during the last week in february, were, for the first time, unanimous in their condemnation of any invasion.

Thank you for your rhetoric stating 'the UN now has a chance to demonstrate its relevance', a statement that made even the most reluctanct countries take up a position opposing any attack on Iraq.

Thank you for your foreign policy, which provoked the British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, into declaring that, in the twenty-first century, 'a war can have a moral justification', thus causing him to lose all credibility.

Thank you for trying to divide a Europe that is currently struggling for unification. This was a warnig that will not go unheeded.

Thank you for having achieved something that very few have so far managed to do in this county : the bringing together of millions of people on all continents to fight for the same idea, even though that idea is opposed to yours.

Thank you for making us feel onece more that, though our words may not be heard, they are at least spoken. This make us stronger in the future.

Thank you for ignoring us, for marginalizing all those of who oppose your decision, because the future of the earth belongs to the excluded.

Thank you, because, without you, we would not have realized our own ability to mobilize. It may serve no purpose this time, but it will doubtless be useful later on.

Now that there seems no way of silencing the drums of war, I would like to say, as an ancient European king said to an invador : 'May your morning be a beautiful one, and may the sun shine on your soldiers' armour, for in the afternoon, I'll defeat you.'

Thank you for allowing us - an army of anymous people filling the streets in an attempt to stop a process that is already underway- to know what it feels like to be powerless, and to learn to grapple with that feeling and transform it.

So, enjoy your morning and whatever glory it may yet bring you.

Thank you for not listening to us, and for not taking us seriously; but know that we are listening to you, and that we will not forget your words.

Thank you great leader, George W. Bush.

Thank you very much.

This artice was published on an English website on 8 March 2003, two weeks before the invasion of Iraq. During that month, it was the most widely published artivel about the war, and had a readership of about 500 million.

                                                                     - Like the flowing river;Thank you president Bush, Paulo Coelho -

너무 잘어울리는 듀오 쥐박과 덤불님.

천하무적 둘이 만났으니 어떤 무시무시한일들이 벌어질지 그저 기대만...

Paulo Coelho, 부시 뿐만아니라, 마우스님 포함해서 둘에게 감사(?)해야 할 일들이 방심하고 있는 사이에

광속으로 벌어지고 있으니, 이 기사에 이어 후속편을 집필해주실수는 없는지요.

Pink, Dear Mr. Mouse랑 산책하며 얘기좀 해보지 않을래요?