It's time for Bush to listen to us

Glen Reynolds asks if it's time the special relationship became a two-way deal.

THE war is dead. Long live the war. The visit by George Bush is now part of a war of words, a constant battle of press briefings and statements countering allegations that all is not well at the Oval Office.

It cannot be denied that the Iraqi war is not quite the sweet and speedy success that the Bush administration hoped for. Moreover, Claire Short and Robin Cook were justified in deciding to fall on their political swords as they resigned. The winning of the peace had not been thought through, as they suggested.

So the President is now touring new places he had never before dreamt of visiting, attempting to reinforce a coalition which has started to crumble at its foundations. With every body bag that arrives at an airbase, a building block is removed and the President stands hand in hand with Tony Blair at the apex.

I had severe reservations about military intervention in Iraq as setting a dangerous precedent if UN backing was not sanctioned. The free market capitalism of the right wing politicians and oil industry representatives has run rife. It has riddled itself with blatant prejudice in awarding building and reconstruction contracts to US companies who are Bush friendly.

Bush is now saying that there may be a US (not UN) presence for decades. Iraq could so easily become another Middle East footnote, a Northern Ireland where politicians talk without listening to the needs and demands of the innocent and vulnerable population.

WE are lucky to have someone of the character of Tony Blair, who pulled back on the reins of the runaway Texan cowboy who likes to shoot from the hip. Republican or Democrat, we have someone who can win friends and influence people. Let us never forget how important that is, when the United States can so easily become a rampaging rogue elephant, tearing away at any and everything in its path, carpet bombing cities back into the Stone Age, with the innocent appearing as mere collateral damage on a bloodied balance sheet.

As he did in the aftermath of September 11, Tony Blair can employ our 'special relationship' as he encourages many nations to support Iraq as it develops into a democratic, open and accountable state. He has influence over empowering an Iraqi nation that intends to enable its people to take control of their own destiny in contrast to being dictated to by the stock exchange in Wall Street.

It is now that we will see how 'special' our relationship is, how far Mr President is going to listen to those in Europe, and especially those in Britain, who continue to have reservations as to how the peace is being run and not won.

Bush may have a culture shock when he arrives in the North-East. Especially when he finds himself travelling alongside Tony Blair not to a Camp David, but hopefully to the places where the richness of our local people is not judged by the quantity of their monetary wealth but by the strength of their character.

It is a coup for Tony that he is able to steer Mr Bush and his entourage of minders away from the Whitehall mandarins, the banquets and Downing Street protocol, to the realities. As Mr Bush is finding as he faces an election next year, the reality of 'winning' (as if it is some sort of sporting contest) is not matching the expectations voiced at a time of military bravado.

What is inevitable is that those who are still reeling from the shock waves of the war, and those with reservations regarding the running of the peace, will exercise their democratic right to demonstrate and protest. It is important that they be allowed to do so, lest the Bush visit becomes an obvious media event.

As a region where families mourn the loss of their beloved who died in combat or by 'friendly' fire, it is the doubts and reservations of these people of the North-East which should be voiced, peacefully and with all the power that a peaceful protest can exert.

PRESIDENT Bush will be taken into the homes of bereaved parents and I hope that he listens to what real people with real grief may tell him. He will never have met people like them before and I hope that he will never forget what they have to say.

The British soldiers have much to be proud of in places like Basra. Our experiences in Northern Ireland have shown us how to gain the support of the local population. A gesture such as wearing berets and not helmets is a simple yet symbolic act which calms rather than provokes.

I believe the US has a lot to learn from our involvement with different cultures. I hope that President Bush learns much from the North-East of England. If he does not, I see him as a figure in history that will be remembered -as General Haig in the First World War - as someone who counted the casualties of war as if they were not made of flesh and blood, with souls and families. Someone who, at the final reckoning, does not count the cost of what is lost.

But when you look behind the faade of Bush Jnr what do you see? His father was a war hero who left his political career as a loser, not just politically but personally in war because he had changed nothing. No matter what wealth he was able to control, his opponent survived to fight again another day against his son.

In Britain, people think that they can sit on the swinging saloon door prior to gun shots at noon. Do you stick with the sheriff that can carry the community, or the US guy with the gun who can shoot fast and straight?

Herein lies the dilemma for Blair as the saloon doors swing open, and a big part of this is about the dualism that is Tony Blair: making friends from different political beliefs, about being on both sides of the swinging doors. Someone that is a deeply spiritual person who cuts through the political and religious divide. A man with a fundamental personal opposition to abortion, and yet one who promotes an alternative, that of a woman's right to choose.

Blair, of course, is a trained lawyer, yet his friend from across the pond disturbingly denies the legitimacy of the international criminal court. How does our Prime Minister condone the embarrassing injustice of those not charged, tried and yet remaining constantly imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, without natural and international justice? When he pats the back or holds the hand of President Bush this week, wherein lies his conscience? Hopefully, it is not sitting on the fence. Now we need to see its influence.

Glen Reynolds is a Labour Councillor for the Park East Ward of Darlington and an advisor to the Bishop and Diocese of Durham on World Development.