Thank you, President Bush
Paulo Coelho 11.3.03
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
slightest 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
inspector 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 mobilise. 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'
armour, 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.
:-)