Demonstrative action

Across the world, and especially in the big cities of the United States, anti-war demonstrators are striving to get their views across to US President George W Bush. People are tired of all this talk of war. The vast majority, certainly in this part of the world, want peace.

Some 300,000 people demonstrated against the impending US punitive strike against Iraq in Washington DC. An estimated 50,000 people protested in San Francisco. People in other major US cities and university campuses defiantly cried out against war. Is it not time the Bush administration began to listen to the protestors?

The Bush administration clearly rejects prolonged UN inspections while US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's emphasis on urgency flies in the face of regional efforts to avert war.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey meeting in Ankara today hope to find a peaceful solution to the Iraqi crisis. This unprecedented collaboration of the states of the region is a refreshing omen. The countries of the region, many of them Washington's close allies, are banking on American support and understanding.

The hawkish stand of US officials is widely regarded as a harbinger of war, a war that Middle Eastern nations can ill- afford. Even Washington's Western allies are having second thoughts about the hasty use of force against Iraq, with Germany and France loudly cautioning restraint. They want to give the UN weapons inspectors more time to examine any evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

The Bush administration's surprisingly different responses to the alleged nuclear threats presented by Iraq and North Korea have raised alarm bells in this region. Why is North Korea being treated with kid gloves while Iraq is being ruthlessly cornered? America may be the world's only superpower but it must still be seen as a just one. Double standards will only fuel more anti-American sentiments in the region.