THE US: The terrorist attack in Bali has given impetus to those groups opposed to a pre-emptive war with Iraq, writes Conor O'Clery, North America Editor
'We will fight, if need be, the war on terror on two fronts," US President George Bush said after the terrorist attack in Bali. However the White House is facing a fast-growing movement throughout the US opposed to war against Iraq. This has apparently been given a new impetus by events in Indonesia.
"It will lead some people to say that the focus on Saddam Hussein is a diversion and moves the focus away from al-Qaeda and terrorism," said Ms Amy Quinn of the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal think-tank which co-ordinates protests.
The anti-war movement is "growing by leaps and bounds and is the most organised since Vietnam," said Ms Quinn from her Washington office yesterday. She forecast that 100,000 people would march against war on October 26th from the Vietnam Memorial to the White House.
Anti-war sentiment in the US is not however confined to activist groups. Growing opposition from mainstream churches has increased pressure on the administration to secure UN backing for any action against Iraq.
Religious leaders who were silent over post-September 11th attacks against al-Qaeda are today promoting vigils and urging the faithful to attend demonstrations.
Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote to Mr Bush recently to say that a pre-emptive, unilateral use of force "is difficult to justify at this time".
The leaders of the Episcopal, Presbyterian, United Methodist and the Evangelical Lutheran Churches have called an attack on Iraq "illegal, immoral and unwise".
"I have never seen the broad-based religious community so united," said Joseph Fahey, professor of religious studies at Manhattan College in Riverdale, New York.
Congregations are ambivalent however: a poll found 43 per cent of Presbyterians think that war "to pre-emptively destroy weapons of mass destruction" is justified, and Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said Catholic bishops are not ruling out military action, "but we're saying in this case war should be a last resort".
Opposition to the rush to war has also been expressed in full page advertisements in the New York Times - which yesterday declared that after Bali, war with Iraq "is likely to make things harder rather than easier". In one advertisement placed by Common Cause, a non-profit, lobbying group, several prominent citizens such as Walter Cronkite and Mario Cuomo urged the US to act only under international law.
Another advertisement on Monday paid for by Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities displayed pictures of the President and cabinet members under the heading "They're selling war, we're not buying". "We took out the advertisement because we believe going to war with Iraq would be senseless and set a precedent for so-called pre-emptive war," said Mr Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's ice cream company.
Another striking advertisement financed by the non-profit Florence Fund shows Osama bin Laden pointing and saying "I want you to invade Iraq . . . Go ahead, send me a new generation of recruits."
While many Congress members voted to give Mr Bush war powers so as not to appear unpatriotic with mid-term elections coming up, they may have misread public opinion.
Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota surged ahead of his Republican opponent after voting against the Congress resolution. New York Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer, who voted in favour, have been greeted with signs saying "Hillary + Chuck Rubber Stamps". Pickets have been mounted on the California offices of Senator Dianne Feinstein who voted Yes despite saying that "a unilateral, pre-emptive attack against Iraq would be a terrible mistake".
On Thursday, the Senate voted 77-23 and the House of Representatives 296-133 to allow the US to attack Iraq without UN consent.
The anti-war movement is taking fire on many university campuses with the help of the Internet and mobile phones. Some groups oppose war outright but most focus on getting UN backing for any military action.
The website noiraqattack.org has collected more than 10,000 signatures from faculty members for a petition published by the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that states: "Although we recognise the Hussein regime is reprehensible, the war being planned will not decrease and may increase the suffering of the Iraqi people for many years to come." It adds that if pursued war should be a last resort undertaken by a UN coalition.
Protests and teach-ins have been reported from 150 campuses throughout America. At Oberlin College in Ohio for example a large sign has been erected on an academic building, saying, "Say No to War in Iraq". In the Bay area, home to Berkeley University, multiple anti-war events take place every day. At Boston University on Monday students hung paper dolls to represent Iraqis killed by economic sanctions.
Opposing groups have emerged in some colleges like Princeton University, which has both a Peace Network and a pro-Bush Committee Against Terrorism. Some 61 per cent of Americans support using force to remove Saddam Hussein, according to a Washington Post-ABC poll but the figure drops to 46 per cent for a pre-emptive strike.
Over 250 anti-war events are planned in churches, college campuses, town parks, and Congressional offices, said Ms Quinn. "I'm hearing from the older generations," she said, "that there was nowhere near this level of activism at this stage in the Vietnam War."