Thank you, President Bush

 Paulo Coelho        3- 11 - 2003

>From the world's most popular novelist, Paulo Coelho, an open
letter of
praise for President Bush.

Thank you, great leader George W. Bush.

Thank you for showing everyone what a danger Saddam Hussein
represents.
Many of us might otherwise have forgotten that he used chemical
weapons
against his own people, against the Kurds and against the Iranians.
Hussein is a 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, remembering 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 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 José María Aznar nor Tony Blair give
the slightest weight to or show the lightest respect for the votes
they
received. Aznar is perfectly capable of ignoring the fact that 90% of
Spaniards are against the war, and Blair is unmoved by the largest
public demonstration to take place in England 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 this as 'damning evidence collected by the British
Secret
Service'.

 Thank you for allowing Colin Powell to make a complete fool of
himself
by showing the UN Security Council photos which, one week later,
were
publicly challenged by Hans Blix, the chief weapons inspect! or in
Iraq.


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

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

Thank you for your rhetoric stating that 'the UN now has a chance
to
demonstrate its relevance', a statement which made even the most
reluctant 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 21st 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 warning that will not go unheeded.

Thank you for having achieved something that very few have so far
managed to do in this century: 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 once more that though our words
may not be
heard, they are at least spoken ? this will make us stronger in the
future.

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

Thank you, because, without you, we would not have realised 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 invader: 'May your
morning be a beautiful one, may the sun shine on your soldiers'
armor,
for in the afternoon, I will defeat you.'

Thank you for allowing us ? an army of anonymous 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 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.








Dr. David Storey
Geography Department &
Centre for Rural Research
University College Worcester
Henwick Grove
Worcester WR2 6AJ
England

Tel: 01905 855189
Fax: 01905 855132