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US Backgrounder
Wednesday, 26 March, 2003
REPORTER: MARK DAVIS: Opposition to the American invasion of Iraq continues to intensify around the world. In the Arab nations, leaders are walking a political tightrope, keeping the lid on popular anger over the war, while not upsetting their American benefactor. Like every major capital across the region, here in Beirut, thousands rallied, leading to clashes with police. Arab politicians are coming under increasing attack for being politically impotent in the face of the American war plan. This public aggression in the Middle East is not just about the war in Iraq, but what many see as a new and unprecedented period of American military and political expansion in the region. Even in nations closely allied to Washington, like South Korea, there've been violent reactions to the threat of American expansionism. In the South Korean capital of Seoul, this demonstration turned violent as protesters and police came to blows close to the National Assembly building. But it's not just public anger at America's war efforts that are resonating around the world. Russia, Germany and France have continued to maintain their opposition to America over Iraq, as they did in the final stages of the UN debate on the war. Russian Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, this week called for an end to military action and requested a special session of the Security Council to discuss the situation, tapping into broader international concern about the so-called 'Bush doctrine'. It wasn't by chance that President Bush chose the American Enterprise Institute in Washington last month to unveil his vision for a new Middle East.
GEORGE W. BUSH, US PRESIDENT: A new regime in Iraq would serve as a dramatic and inspiring example of freedom for other nations in the region.
This conservative American think-tank has extremely close ties with Bush, Cheney, and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and it's one of the main architects of the 'Bush doctrine'. For several years now, the Institute's theorists have been proposing an aggressive expansion of American military, political and economic power, openly promoting a pax Americana for the new century.
