For the first time, the public opinion across the world is acting as a "second super power", said Chomsky

By Hani Mohammad, IOL Correspondent

MANCHESTER , May 24 (IslamOnline.net) – The bubble of massive opposition to the United States since its invasion of Iraq has left the world public opinion acting as a "second super power", Noam Chomsky said.

Giving a lecture in Co-operative Hall in central Manchester , the prominent left-wing Jewish American academic said he felt upbeat about the ability of the world public opinion to make a change in the future.

For the first time, the public opinion across the world is acting as a "second super power" in the face of the United States , Chomsky told the attentive audience last week.

These world bubbles in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003 , were unprecedented, something the renowned writer deemed as an indicative of the growing awareness of people.

Chomsky, who is the author of numerous books and articles on international affairs and human rights, has slammed Washington ’s foreign policy.

The policy of U.S. President George W. Bush does not differ much from these of consecutive administrations taking power since the 1940s, the American writer said.

It is dominated by "one doctrine", and the differences between the American administration in this regard only pertain to the performance rather than to the essence, he averred.

"American Queen"

Bush is just a pale shadow of other forces running the country, as Washington ’s policy is driven by big businesses, Chomsky said.

He found what has marked the leadership of the Bush administration is that its policy is foolish, arrogant and made public.

It is dealing with the world as the only super power in the world, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union , Chomsky said.

Asked what he would tell Bush in a one-minute meeting, Chomsky said sternly that he would ask the President about the lat time he spoke to God.

He was referring to Bush’s claims that he owns the truth, with Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction – none of which have been found in the oil-rich country after more than one-year occupation – a case in point.

Chomsky had said that the U.S. is itself leading a terrorist state through supporting Israeli atrocities, Turkey’s crushing of its own Kurdish population, the killings of "maybe a million civilians in Iraq and a half million children, which is the price the former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright says America is willing to pay" out of earlier sanctions on the country.

New Trend

Chomsky also opened a heavy fire on the United States for imposing sanctions against Syria .

He said the sanctions are part of the new American trend that threatens countries which obtained or have the intention to get weapons of mass destruction with being on the " hit list".

U.S. President George W. Bush imposed the new sanctions Tuesday, May 11, accusing Damascus of supported terrorism and failing to close its borders to "insurgents" looking to fight U.S. forces in Iraq .

Chomsky questioned the sanctions saying Syria has never been known for its support for terrorism, as Washington claims.

He attributed the move to American and Israeli pressure on Damascus to halt its support to Palestinian resistance factions.

Chomsky cited reports that former U.S. President Bill Clinton had offered Syria a deal to lift the Arab country’s name from the  list of terrorism-sponsoring countries in return for agreeing to U.S. and Israeli demands in this regard.

Damascus accuses Washington of double standards and of not doing enough to rein in its close ally Israel, which still occupies the Golan Heights, a strategic Syrian plateau since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

The U.S. frequently used its veto power to spike Syrian-backed resolutions condemning Israel .

The last one was used on October 15 against a draft resolution condemning Israel 's separation wall in the occupied Palestinian territories, under the yoke of Israeli occupation since 1948.