| Saddam Hussein is fortunate that the French, the Germans, the Russians and the Chinese do not speak English. Had they done so, he might have found the English-speaking axis of the United States and the United Kingdom considerably strengthened. |
| George Bernard Shaw once described England and America as two countries separated by the same language. Today, ironically, it is that very language which unites them both against the rest of the veto-wielding countries in the UN Security Council. It is that very lingua Britannica which both President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair use to persuade their English-speaking counterparts to join their beleaguered alliance against Saddam, just as President Chirac woos hesitant ex-colonial Francophones in his own and their mother tongue, French. |
| Whatever may be the outcome of the conflict that no one outside the United States and Great Britain seems to want but everyone nevertheless expects, Saddam Hussein has in a sense already emerged a victor of sorts, for not only did he survive an attack by President Bush I but he has managed during the present reign of President Bush II to rout his opposition. Alone and without an ally, he has brought about an unprecedented degree of dissension within the United Nations and its Security Council. Those who are not inimical to him might concede that he has actually succeeded - without firing a single shot - in disarming his foes by the artful stratagem of disarming himself (albeit under UN pressure). He has amassed without any direct canvassing a lobby of support, all located on the European side of the English Channel. Britain and the United States, two nations who during two World Wars led the fight for the liberation of the mainland of Europe from Nazism, now find themselves isolated and on the defensive. |
| Their chagrin is understandable.[EXTRACT] |
| Published in DAWN 17 March 2003, and reprinted in WHEN BUSH COMES TO SHOVE & OTHER WRITINGS (2006). |
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