***** THE NEWS FROM EUObserver ******
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- Blair to urge Europe and US to rebuild relations - 26.03.2003 - 08:34
British prime minister Tony Blair flies to Washington today for talks with US president George W Bush. The first talks between the two leaders will mainly concentrate on the future of Iraq, however Mr Blair is also expected to try and rebuild relations between Washington and the Europe.
Link to article www.euobserver.com
- Flood of competition cases expected, says EU Court - 26.03.2003 - 08:36
The enlargement of the EU with ten new countries will cause an explosive growth in cases of state subsidies, according to the European Court in Luxembourg which normally oversees state aid disputes. Governments of the new countries have been more used to supporting their national champions with large state subsidies - expected to turn the EC Court into a legal battlefield between dirigisme and market economy.
Link to article www.euobserver.com
- Finish Convention work by June, says Rome - 26.03.2003 - 09:49
Italy, which takes over the EU Presidency in July from Greece, is expecting the Convention to conclude its work by June, allowing a "cooling down" period before the intergovernmental conference is launced in the autumn.
Link to article www.euobserver.com
- Decimated airlines seek solution to passenger data feud - 26.03.2003 - 09:58
Faced with "heavy US demands" and legal uncertainty, European airlines have called for a long term and sensible solution to the problem of disclosing sensitive passenger data to US authorities. "We need a long term solution… it has to come fast" said Räiner Schatzlein of Lufthansa.
Link to article www.euobserver.com
- Ex-Comissioner charged with corruption - 25.03.2003 - 15:58
Edith Cresson has become the first former Commissioner to be charged with corruption. Ms Cresson, who is also a fomer prime minister, has been charged by the Belgian authorities with counterfeiting and personally benefiting from professional contracts.
Link to article www.euobserver.com
- Reform of MEPs' perks unlikely before election - 25.03.2003 - 14:00
Euro-parliamentarians have approved a report limiting their pay but retaining control of perks. A deal being seen by some as a fudge. The report, drafted by German Social Democrat MEP Willi Rothley, proposes a fixed salary for all MEPs of 50% of the basic salary of a judge at the European Court of Justice, around 8,000 euro per month.
Link to article www.euobserver.com
- Patten: This is the only UN we’ve got - 26.03.2003 - 08:58
EU external affairs Commissioner Chris Patten, said yesterday in the European Parliament that the United Nations machinery may not be perfect, "but this is the only UN we’ve got".
Patten made reference to last week’s Brussels European Council, which underlined the central role that the United Nations should play in the Iraqi crisis, especially in the post- conflict area.
Link to article www.euobserver.com
- France and Russia align over Iraq humanitarian aid - 26.03.2003 - 09:59
Disputes in the UN continue, now over the role for the United States and Britain in administering the humanitarian programs after the Iraq war. Russia, France, Syria seem ready to block the United States and Britain from administering the humanitarian programs, when restarted after the war.
Link to article www.euobserver.com
- Czech communist party questions EU membership - 26.03.2003 - 09:49
The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM) has urged its supporters not to vote for the Czech Republic's EU entry in the referendum planned for June.
Link to article www.euobserver.com
- UN and NATO superfluous, says Washington advisor - 26.03.2003 - 08:37
The UN and NATO are superfluous and no longer able to provide security in the 21st century, according to an adviser to the US government, Richard Perle
Link to article www.euobserver.com
- Paris behind plans for a French CNN - 26.03.2003 - 09:56
The French government is pushing these days for the birth of an international television news network that would compete with CNN. French President Jacques Chirac idea is that "France should be more strongly represented in the battle of images".
Link to article www.euobserver.com
- Denmark stays clear of future-of-Europe clubs - 26.03.2003 - 09:49
The Danish premier Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said that his country will watvch from the sidelines a debate on the future of Europe. Denmark would gain more influence if it does not participate in any pre-established interest groups, said Mr Rasmussen.
Link to article www.euobserver.com
- Italian MEP arrested over drug protest...again - 26.03.2003 - 09:54
An Italian MEP was arrested last Friday in Manchester, UK and imprisoned for 3 days after he was found pocessing a small quantity of cannabis. The blatant publicity stunt was a protest against the present UK laws prohibiting the use of certain drugs.
Link to article www.euobserver.com
- Danish ex-premier casts his eyes on Strasbourg - 26.03.2003 - 09:02
Former Danish prime minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen will be the Social Democratic Party's front runner candidate in the 2004 European Parliament elections, after giving up his ambitions to become NATO secretary general
Link to article www.euobserver.com
- [salt&pepper] The weak means in place to pursue peace - 26.03.2003 - 09:49
There is really only one word to describe the recent meeting of the European Council: hypocrisy. While Europeans were extremely uneasy as they watched the initial stages of the war unfold, their leaders were discussing what to do when it was all over, writes GIACOMO FILIBECK in today's Salt&Pepper.
Link to article www.euobserver.com
The World Today
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This is a transcript from The World Today. The program is broadcast around Australia at 12:10pm on ABC Local Radio.
The World Today - Thursday, 20 March , 2003 12:50:23
Reporter: Stephen Long
JOHN HIGHFIELD: And for the broader Australian economy, and particularly motorists, some good news in these dark times we're experiencing.
The huge premium which has been built into oil prices over recent weeks has been one of the first casualties from this suggestion of war. But West Texas Intermediate Crude has lost more than a dollar a barrel in its value overnight, the fifth straight day of falls in the oil price.
Spot prices well below US$30 a barrel have been seen in recent trading in the last few hours. That's down by more than 25 per cent on the 12-year high of nearly US$40 just a few weeks ago. Commodities analysts are saying it could well fall further in the short term.
But leading economists also remain concerned about longer-term threats including the sparse stocks of oil reserves in the United States and the threat that Saddam will actually set his oil fields ablaze.
Finance Correspondent Stephen Long reports.
STEPHEN LONG: It was a cent shy of US$40 a barrel late last month, but West Texas Crude has tanked on the eve of war. The price per barrel has fallen by 20 per cent in the past week alone.
And if the pattern of the last Gulf War is repeated, it will fall sharply again when the bombs start tumbling. David Thurtell, commodity strategist at the Commonwealth Bank, says that prospect has speculators scrambling to protect their positions.
DAVID THURTELL: In the last Gulf War the release of reserves on the day the hostilities started pushed oil down by $9 and $10 a barrel. So if you're a speculator and you're long, in an oil position, you do not want to be long if the oil price is going to fall, you know, $9, $10.
STEPHEN LONG: OPEC oil ministers met less than a fortnight ago and reassured the world they would meet any shortfall in supply relating to the Iraqi war. And David Thurtell says that's been a soothing balm for oil prices.
DAVID THURTELL: The main thing is that there's been indications that OPEC will increase production more or less the day that hostilities break out. And if it doesn't, there will be a release from strategic reserves in Western nations.
STEPHEN LONG: So can motorists expect relief in coming weeks from prices above $1 a litre at the bowser? Well, don't count the money just yet. The worry is US oil reserves at a 27-year low.
And across the OECD, inventories are also at their lowest point in many years. Then there's the instability in Venezuela, one of the world's biggest producers. Production there is only now recovering from a prolonged national strike.
David Hale is the former global chief economist at Zurich Financial Services, and he now advises major corporations across the globe. And he's warning of risks beyond the day-to-day trading.
DAVID HALE: There's no doubt that an American victory will probably set the state for lower oil prices. But again, we also have other problems in the oil market. We have Venezuela. And the Venezuela's led to a big loss now, put over the last few months, certainly here in the Western hemisphere.
So while the price of oil will clearly fall, we don't still quite know where the bottom is, and again we don't know how much damage Saddam Hussein will do to the oil fields.
STEPHEN LONG: David Hale says that the world shouldn't forget what followed the last Gulf War.
DAVID HALE: Well, what it did was it led to a major oil price shock which was a blow to the economies of East Asia. It was a modest blow to the economy of Europe and it did slow the whole world economy down. Then things got better. But in the case of the US economy, we had the most sluggish economic recovery recorded in modern times.
STEPHEN LONG: That oil price related slump in the economy helped lose George Bush Senior the presidency, and his son will be hoping he doesn't suffer the same fate as his father. But whatever the long-term risks, traders anticipate further falls in crude oil prices in coming days. David Thurtell believes they could dip by another US$5 a barrel before they turn around.
DAVID THURTELL: Once it gets to sort of the mid-twenties, on a risk reward consideration, oil's starting to represent good value again. Because if the war goes pear shaped or let's just say there's another snap of cold weather or Venezuela hits problems, if you're an oil consumer, it would've been best to get some sort of reasonably priced oil on board in those twenties. So if the oil price spikes up again, you've at least taken some oil on board.
JOHN HIGHFIELD: David Thurtell is a commodity strategist at the Commonwealth Bank and he was speaking with our Finance Correspondent Stephen Long.
Editorial Roundup
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The Associated Press
March 19, 2003
Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad:
March 18
The San Diego Union-Tribune, on the risk of inaction in Iraq:
Now, war is not only unavoidable but, in our view, necessary. It is necessary both to eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and to preserve the credibility of the international order that set out to disarm Iraq in 1991. This task is made all the more urgent by the global war on terror.
Sept. 11, 2001, taught us the consequences of looking the other way when rogue governments give sanctuary to terrorists, as Iraq has done. We refer to the international order, rather than the United Nations, because the Security Council, at the critical moment of decision, surrendered its responsibility to enforce its own mandates.
French President Jacques Chirac's repeated vows to veto any enforcement resolution that authorized war effectively eviscerated the power and influence of the Security Council.
Sadly, the world body sits impotently on the sidelines as the United States, Britain and their allies prepare to impose the "serious consequences" promised by Security Council Resolution 1441. ...
In the face of Hussein's intransigence, it would have been far better for this conflict to be carried out under the auspices of a unified Security Council. But the council's abdication of its responsibility is surely no reason for the United States also to abandon its duty to disarm Iraq. With nearly 300,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines including many from San Diego County deployed in the region, the United States and its allies cannot back down. To retreat now would hand a strategic victory to Hussein and thereby make the future far less secure, not only for Iraq's neighbors but also for ourselves.
To shrink from this difficult mission would serve only to make the world a more dangerous place.
March 18
The Huntsville (Ala.) Times, on the failure of diplomacy in Iraq:
Diplomacy has failed, and most of what remains is to count down the hours until the shooting starts
The uncertainty, of one kind at least, is over. Speaking to a worldwide TV audience Monday night, President Bush told Saddam Hussein that the only way to avert an American attack on Iraq is for Saddam and his sons to leave the country within 48 hours.
Diplomacy has failed. It has failed to persuade Iraq to come clean about its weapons. It has failed to persuade a majority of the U.N. Security Council to back up a new resolution on Iraq. It has failed to persuade the world of the wisdom or necessity of launching preemptive wars against states that may threaten the safety of others.
All that remains is war, and that is quite a lot. The number of bad things that can happen once we attack Iraq is significant. Bush himself Monday night devoted a portion of his speech to warning Iraqi troops against using biological weapons against allied forces. He told Iraqi military commanders that they would have information instructing them how to surrender.
March 18
The Observer-Dispatch, Utica, N.Y., on March Madness controversies:
College basketball's March Madness is upon us, but sadly, it's the wrong type of madness. A rash of college sports scandals makes clear too many colleges and universities have lost perspective about what their academic mission is all about.
By bending rules and cutting corners in an all-out quest for victories, these schools tarnish their own images and that of college sports as a whole.
In a year when Syracuse University's basketball team - by playing well and competing fairly - has brought more excitement to the Carrier Dome than has been seen in years, elsewhere college basketball has been rocked with a rash of scandals.
Academically ineligible athletes. Fake grades in a course taught by a coach's son. Misuse of a telephone credit card by multiple members of one team. Continued hiring of coaches of questionable ethics. And, in St. Bonaventure's case, the loss of a university president because he allowed the school to admit a basketball player whose credentials consisted of a welding degree.
These episodes are embarrassing and shameful. Even in the year 2003, colleges are still considered a place in society where idealism and truth can and do run free.
March 18
The Daily Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, on oil:
War with Iraq figures to make an already tight world oil market even tighter.
... U.S. crude-oil supplies are stretched, partly because of the recent oil workers' strike in Venezuela, a major exporter, and fears of a war with Iraq.
Hate to say we told you so, but the prospect of gasoline selling for $2, $2.50 or even $3 a gallon, and the potential for even greater national energy calamities, makes us wish the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was producing oil and natural gas.
Of course, that would've required some foresight a decade ago, some sense in Washington that at some critical juncture down the road it would be good to have domestic supplies available to temporarily offset the sudden, potentially catastrophic loss of oil from a major overseas supplier.
That's right: If policy-makers in 1993 had given the go-ahead, the refuge's oil and natural gas would be online now, and we wouldn't be sweating $3 gas or even greater risks now.
March 17
The Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., on Bush's education cuts:
As part of his budget, President Bush has proposed big changes in Head Start, the federal pre-school program, and substantial cuts in after-school and vocational education. After-school money would be reduced by 40 percent, and the Perkins Vocational and Technical Education program would be virtually wiped out to divert dollars to "No Child Left Behind."
While no one can plausibly deny that illiteracy is a huge problem, these proposals seem to be working against themselves. Head Start is one example. School readiness requires more than just knowing your ABCs. Sometimes it means doing health screenings so an inner ear infection or poor eyesight gets detected/treated early, before it snowballs into something much more crippling later on. Sometimes it's providing breakfast. Those who deal with at-risk children will tell you they don't feel much like reading when they're hungry.
Yet Education Secretary Rod Paige will say those represent the very "mission creep" - military lingo is applied even to the classroom these days - that has made Head Start vulnerable to intervention.
Problem is, teaching kids to read is labor-intensive. If there are two strategies that seem to work, they're time on task and individualized attention. Those don't come cheap.
March 17
The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, on squashing skeeters:
The West Nile virus' deadly sweep across the country put the bite on local governments, which had to spend extra money to kill mosquitoes that carry the disease.
With the virus present in all but six states, this spring and summer is likely to bring more of the same. That's why a House vote to provide $100 million in grants through the Centers for Disease Control is a timely response.
The measure, which was sponsored by a Louisiana lawmaker, Rep. Chris John, a Democrat from Crowley, recommends that the Bush administration provide $100 million for mosquito abatement this year. Local governments would be able to apply for up to $100,000 in grants if they can come up with a 50 percent match.
In Louisiana last year, 329 people had West Nile and 24 died. The epidemic cost $24 million in this state, including mosquito abatement and hospitalization.
West Nile is a national public health threat, and federal help is justified. Since 1999, when the virus appeared in this country, there have been 4,007 cases of human illness and 263 deaths, according to the CDC.
The Senate, which will take up this legislation soon, should follow the House lead and vote to approve it. Prevention is always the best and most cost effective health care strategy, and killing mosquitoes is the best way to prevent the West Nile virus from sickening and killing people.
March 16
Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel, on open government:
Together with beaches, oranges and the Everglades, open government belongs on a list of things to treasure about Florida.
For decades, Florida has been a national leader in ensuring citizens access to their government.
But in the ensuing 10 years, lawmakers made more than 100 exceptions. So last fall, voters weighed in again. By a 3-to-1 margin, they passed an amendment to require that exceptions be approved by two-thirds of the members in both houses of the Legislature, rather than majorities.
Yet many lawmakers still aren't listening. Government in the sunshine remains under siege in the Sunshine State.
With this year's legislative session less than two weeks old, lawmakers already have introduced at least 37 bills that could limit public access to government information.
Most insidious are more than a dozen "shell bills" that would allow exceptions to the constitution without including any details. Such bills are stealth weapons targeting the public's right to know.
Open government, by contrast, instills confidence among citizens. It invites them to participate. It leads to better decisions, as ideas are questioned, then refined.
Open government also promotes better use of tax dollars. It holds government accountable.
Yet Florida's legacy of open government won't be safe unless citizens demand that lawmakers honor it.
March 17
The Cincinnati Enquirer, on Christopher Reeve:
"Superman" Christopher Reeve may have more sheer power as a paralyzed hero than he ever had as a movie star. Reeve has become a symbol of hope and encouragement to hundreds of thousands of people who suffer from spinal cord or other paralyzing injuries and to all of us who know and love someone who does.
The 50-year-old actor was paralyzed from the neck down in a horseback riding accident in 1995. Through the media, people have tracked and cheered Reeve's quest to recover from his quadriplegic condition.
His latest triumph was reported last week. Doctors implanted electrodes in his chest to help him breathe through his nose, without a ventilator, for the first time in nearly eight years.
Reeve has become a "superman-like" advocate for medical research and funding through his Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation.
Meanwhile, Reeve's real-life journey of hope and determination is more powerful than any story Hollywood could manufacture.
March 18
Le Figaro, Paris, on war with Iraq:
In a few days, perhaps a few hours, weapons will speak...If the American President triumphs quickly in Baghdad, public opinion, as versatile as it is spontaneous, will view him differently. What then will one remember from the long months leading up to the military offensive?
Of course, the debate on the alleged legality, or illegality, of this war. Resolution 1441, adopted last November by the United Nations, demands disarmament of Iraq by weapons inspections. The resolution does not implicitly evoke war, nor does it call for the defeat of Saddam's regime. International law has only a relative value: it can do nothing against force...
The diplomatic duel between George Bush and Jacques Chirac will have been the other big subject. A battle of positions that would almost eclipse the fact that the common enemy was the dictator of Baghdad. From both sides of the Atlantic, the media had harsh words for each of the presidents. Bush the crusader, Bush the simple-minded, versus Chirac the traitor, Chirac the friend of Saddam...
Chirac's pacifism is no more absolute than Bush's bellicosity: without the September 11 attacks, the President of the United States undoubtedly would not have initiated a war.
March 18
Algemeen Dagblad, Rotterdam, on President Bush and war with Iraq:
In defiance of opposing views in his own country and everywhere else, Bush is religiously convinced war is the only remedy against the dictator of Baghdad. The theatrical negotiations in the U.N. security council, sharply waged, appear in retrospect to have had little meaning. It is disturbing that the U.N. only matters to Bush when it goes along with the plan-making in Washington, and is otherwise shoved aside as meaningless. This arrogant attitude, more than the conflict over how to disarm Saddam, explains the distance in large parts of the globe and the division in Europe. But Washington doesn't feel responsible for the consequences.
However sad this all is, it can't be seen as a big surprise. Ever since Bush became president after an unconvincing election result, he has been surrounded with advisers who can't be told anything by the outside world. The big question is what they will put on the agenda after Iraq: North Korea, Iran or other minor annoyances America wants to deal with.
March 18
Business Day, Johannesburg, on going to war with Iraq:
There is no reason not to wait a little longer for a war
(We cannot) live in a world where wars are lit by passion and hatred. Sometimes, humanity demands compromise and patience.
(Saddam) needs to be contained in the most comprehensive way. UN sanctions on Iraq should be tightened... And the UN weapons inspectors need to become a permanent fixture.
... Any government arguing, that Iraq must indeed disarm, but which does not also contribute to the pressure to disarm, is double-dealing. The US and Britain ... are the only nations actually forcing the disarmament required unanimously by the UN Security Council in Resolution 1441.
But the failure of diplomacy does not have to be final ... Many thousands of lives are at stake. Nothing is more important than that.
For diplomacy to work, however, the US and Britain need support. It is no good France and the rest of the Security Council idly opposing Bush, however crass his modus operandi may have been. The more united the pressure on Iraq, the longer war can be averted.
Saddam must go, yes. And his weapons too. But this week, this month, is too early for war. There are still stones left unturned. Wait a little and work on the French.
March 18
Egyptian Gazette, Cairo, on U.S.-Iraq:
Emerging from a hastily called summit on Iraq in the Azores Islands in Portugal, U.S. President George W. Bush told a jittery world that "a moment of truth" was at hand.
With all signs pointing to an inevitable war, which has no good rationale or moral grounds, the aftermath will be most likely horrible. One reason is that the battlefield is an already volatile region. Another is these pervasive feelings of vulnerability across the globe. These feelings are bound to deepen.
If a moment of truth is already at hand, it is Mr. Bush who needs to grasp it and be cognizant of the fact that his unjustified war would open the Pandora's box for the whole globe.
March 18
Jordan Times, Amman, on U.S. plans in Iraq:
As the U.S. goes to war, Jordanians and Arabs find themselves haunted by the same question that they have been asking Washington for the past few months: What is the plan?
Speaking after the Azores summit on Sunday, President George W. Bush reiterated his commitment to a 'unified' Iraq. That was - like 95 percent of what Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said after their summit - nothing new.
What Bush has failed to mention so far is how he intends to keep Iraq united, how he intends to foster the emergence of a representative administration, including all ethnic and religious components of Iraq society.
The major question is how?
There have been insistent talk of a U.S. occupation and U.S. military administration. But beyond sheer propaganda on the 'liberation' of Iraq and some nebulous democratization process, we have heard nothing from Bush about an actual Iraqi government.
Alternatives to the regime of President Saddam Hussein have yet to be spelled out.
No Jordanian, no Arab has ever bought, even for one single second, Bush's blabbering about bringing democracy to the region.
A democratic government in Baghdad would reflect people's anger and revulsion against U.S. policies, and translate it into policies.
March 18
The Daily Telegraph, London, on the U.N. backing the war with Iraq :
The argument today should not turn on the precise role of the United Nations in the move to war. Despite Robin Cook's eloquent assertions last night, it is not true that a second U.N. resolution is essential under international law. Several wars since 1945 have been fought legitimately with far less U.N. backing than this one. The role of the U.N. should now be to work to build the new Iraq that will follow the fall of Saddam. ... Ours is the only European country in the postwar era which has never shirked its obligation to try to preserve peace in the world and defend the interests of the West against its enemies. If we slink away now, we will suffer much more than the relatively minor catastrophe of losing a prime minister: we will be weak and friendless, and we ought to be ashamed.
March 19
Singapore's Straits Times, on So war it shall be:
It is just as well no second resolution was presented, as defeat would have placed the U.S.-led coalition in defiance of international will if it proceeded to invade Iraq regardless.
It is possible the war will be so one-sided and over so quickly the nay-sayers will be forced to shut up, and all is quickly forgotten. With America's superior arms, it is possible. It does not seem probable, however.
The bitter fights at the Security Council have cut deep. They were not about French pique and American muscle, but eventually were about the sanctity of the U.N.'s assigned role to hold the peace among nations. Consensual decision-making is a vital part of that process.
A weakened U.N. is not in any country's interest, including America's. Now that war is a fait accompli, the U.N. owes it to itself to assert its authority in Iraq's post-war reconstruction phase and the treatment of refugees and prisoners of war. The U.S. should play its part in restoring the world body's battered prestige.
March 18
Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, on Iraq war:
Regardless of the U.N. position, the United States has the strength to act alone. It is, after all, U.S. President George W. Bush's war.
"The international community is already divided. Anti-American sentiment has grown in the Arab world and is likely to destabilize governments traditionally friendly to the United States. Even if democracy is brought to Iraq, as the United States anticipates, it does not necessarily follow that a new government brought into being in Iraq through elections would be friendly to the United States.
Bush characterizes war in Iraq as part of the war on terrorism. But there is a danger it will increase terrorism instead.
Although there is no United Nations approval for war and no satisfactory plan for what Iraq will be like after Saddam Hussein, the world seems to be unable to stop the inexorable march to war.
March 19
Dagsavisen, Oslo, Norway, on the United States' illegal war:
The United States will go to war with Iraq without a U.N. mandate and without itself under direct threat.
While everyone says the war is preventative, it's an aggressive war, which as defined by the War Crimes Tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, at the end of World War II, is a war crime itself.
We are therefore happy that Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik has stated that Norway cannot and will not support the attack on Iraq.
The United Nations has always been a cornerstone of Norwegian policy and there's no reason to change that just because the United States did not get its way with the U.N. Security Council.
President Bush cites Iraq for helping terrorists as a reason for war. The stance has been repeated so often that most Americans believe it.
Yet a bluff repeated often repeated does not make it true, and the Americans have never proven the link.
President Bush has long prepared for war, but he never thought he would get so little support or negative world opinion.
That's because the Bush administration's reasoning for war doesn't hold water. Suspicion of evil intentions isn't enough.