The values as expounded by corporate America have strong and powerful support in this state and the other states of the EU. The political elite in Ireland is one of the most pro US corporate elites throughout the EU. In the last five budgets the richest 10% of the population received 25% of the budget giveaways and the poorest 20% received fewer than 5%. It will be the poor who will suffer most from the cutbacks. It will be the poor suffer most from this war.

The rich corporate sector organised in IBEC, and the mainstream media will continue to give massive support to the right wing FF/PD government. A clear and obvious example of this right wing government's support for corporate America is that it is that it is allowing Shannon to be used as a US military base, and Kenmare Bay as a military training area. Fianna Fail is not so much an Irish Republican Party as a branch of the US Republican Party. Ahern has how turned our Army into Bush's bodyguards.

Our elite, look to the corporate dominated US state for inspiration, so let us look at the future Ahern and Harney have in store for us since they have made it clear that they would like the EU to become like the US.

• The US spends more on its armed forces than the rest of the world put together.
• The military accounts for $343 billion of the total Federal budget of $1,900 billion in 2002.
• Between 1995-99 the US accounted for 48% of all conventional arms exports, the nearest rivals were Russia at 13%, France 11% Britain 7%.
• In February 2000, there were 2 million people in US prisons, which is 25% of the entire world's prison population. This in a state with only 3-4% of the world's population.
• The US devoted just 0.1% of its GNP to overseas aid, the smallest % of the OECD states.
• 40 million Americans are functionally illiterate.
• 31 million Americans live in poverty.
• Real wages in the US are now 12% less than what they were in 1973.
• Of the tax cuts made by Bush 43% have gone to the richest 1% of Americans.
• 38.7 million Americans, including 8.5 million children were without health care.
• 1% of the population own 38% of the wealth of the US.

In order to sustain their control of the state, the US corporate elite give Republicans and Democrats party's massive amounts of money to ensure they do what they are told. There was hardly a single elected representative in the US Congress who had not got money from Enron. Since the corporate sector also controls the media, no opposition to their dominance is given a voice. Indeed it finds an echo in the solid united front of the Irish political/media support for the destruction of Irish Independence, democracy and neutrality during the Nice referenda.

The United States gave massive support to Muslims in Afghanistan in order to weaken the Soviet Union. Now the US alleges that they have turned and bit the hand that fed them. They bombed Afghanistan and made Karzi, an ex Uncol employee, guarded by US Special Forces, the new ruler. It ensures access to the oil in the states of central Asia. The happiest people are the corporate sector leaders, as they have a new enemy, i.e. "Muslim fundamentalists" to replace the Soviet Union and "Communism" to justify their military expenditure. Iraq had nothing to do with the Sept. 11 attack, but those that did, do not have the resources to justify the massive military expenditure needed to provide the required profits, so states, such as Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Libya, Cuba, have to be defined as enemies in its nuclear posture review to provide that justification.

What the Cold War provided was permanent war for a permanent arms industry and what the "war on terrorism" provides is a similar justification.

A simpler solution would be to give the UN Inspectors in Iraq more time.

A simpler solution, would be a massive boycott of Israel until it withdraws from East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza strip, to allow the establish a Palestinian state, with it's capital in Jerusalem.

A simpler solution would be for UN arms inspectors to be sent to Israel at the same time as they are sent to Iraq.

A simpler solution would be a real and sustained effort to have a more equitable distribution of the world's wealth.

For while Iraq is ruled by a dictator, that was not an issue while he fought Iran. States such as the US, France and Britain provided Iraq with massive military equipment during that war. Any states such as the US or Britain that provided massive amount of arms to Indonesia while their elite committed genocide in East Timor cannot be taken seriously when they say they support democracy and that is the reason they wish to go to war on Iraq.

The desire of the US oil companies to establish a pro US regime to give them control and ownership of the oil is the reason for the war on Iraq.

The US with 3-4% of the world's population consumes 25% of the world's oil. From 2008 it is estimated that oil production will decline at the rate of 2 million barrels a day. The US National energy plan produced by Dick Cheney showed that by 2020 the US would be importing 17 million barrels of oil a day. Its blood for oil.

That is not to say the current regime should be allowed to have weapons of mass destruction. Iraq, like every other state, such as Israel, France, Russia, North Korea, Britain, the US, India, etc should be visited by UN inspectors and their weapons of mass destruction destroyed.

But Iraq is no threat to the US. US military expenditure is 293 times that of Iraq.
The people of Iraq have suffered terribly from UN sanctions imposed by the enormous power of the US over that institution. An American Prof. Joy Gordon who studied sanctions wrote,
"The US has fought to minimize the humanitarian goods that enter the country in the face of enormous human suffering."

Child mortality has tripled since 1990. 1/4 of Iraqi children are underweight and 1/5 is stunted from malnutrition. The UN sanctions allow $100 per person per day.

The Iraqi people are now among the poorest in the world. The UNICF has said that in the event of war the horrific situation will get even worse. A war will mean not only mean thousands of deaths, but also a massive humanitarian disaster.

If Iraq was the first state to have such weapons destroyed then the current situation in Iraq is a step in the right direction, and the Inspectors should be given more time. If it is to indicate however, that only states loyal to corporate America can have such weapons, then it is a process towards permanent war rather than permanent peace. A permanent war, or Crusade, as Bush called it led by the rich white Christians, a crusade which they cannot possibly win.