The threats and failures of President Bush’s warmongering fundamentalism was the main topic on Thursday’s edition of the Cuban prime time TV and radio show “The Round Table”

The panelists highlighted that US popular support for the war on Iraq is dropping fast and that the peace movement is gaining momentum at the cost of the president’s approval rating.

The Iraqi resistance actions continue targeting US troops and the death toll has now reached 1,870. At the same time, over 14,000 American soldiers have been wounded since the beginning of the war and the number of those that later died or are permanently disabled has not been disclosed.

The noise being raised by anti-war activists has been so loud that the President saw himself forced to interrupt his 5-week vacation and tour several states trumpeting the need to stay in Iraq, this time invoking the names of the fallen.

In three recent public appearances in Utah, Idaho and Iowa to defend his policy Bush stated, “an immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and the broader Middle East would only embolden terrorists and make the United States and its allies more vulnerable to attack.” He also announced that 1,500 more fresh troops will soon be deployed in the Arab nation.

Meanwhile, Bush’s approval rating has reached a record low since 2001, between 36 and 40 percent, on such subjects as the war, the economy, social security system, and other domestic issues.

Special attention was given on the Round Table to the demonstration being staged in Crawford Texas by Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq. Her effort has mobilized thousands of people nationwide to demand the immediate withdrawal of US troops from the war torn country.

Interviewed by phone on the Round Table, former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark stated that the anti-war movement is growing in the United States and a big march is slated to take place next September 24 in Washington DC. “It is expected to be the largest mobilization we have had since March of 2003 when the war was launched on Iraq.” He added, “constitutional procedures to impeach President Bush are also being studied.”

The voices of discord are also coming from Congress where representatives are rehashing the false pretenses that led to the war in the first place. It has also been brought out that some 6,000 people have deserted from the armed forces since the war began.

The analysts on the Havana TV studio recalled that numerous politicians are already posturing for the November 2006 mid-term elections and are beginning to feel concerned with the prospects that associating themselves with the administration’s war policies may be a detriment to their campaigns.

Switching to the current situation in Iraq, panelists said that the failure by the US backed regime to agree on a new constitution is a demonstration of the internal divisions among the different factions. The stated goal is to create three federal states, one each belonging to the Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis. According to analysts, this division could lead to civil wars.

Turning to Afghanistan, the Cuban panelists noted that this year has been the most lethal for American troops with 74 of its soldiers killed, and that violence appears to be on the rise.

On the electoral front, there are some 8,500 candidates for the Afghan National Assembly, and many of them are considered to be related to the so-called “warlords.” The elections are expected to take place with no guarantees of legitimacy whatsoever and a price tag superior 159 million dollars, not including spending on security.

The panelists also commented on the global wave of rejection sparked by the recent statements made by TV evangelist Pat Robertson calling for the assassination of the popular Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, the United Nations and most of the US media condemned the rightwing politician’s statements, noting that Robertson’s program is broadcast in 200 countries in 70 languages.

Although belated, the Bush administration tried to distance itself from the preacher’s statements, while Robertson tried to throw water on the fire by saying that his words had been “misconstrued.” Havana, August 26 (AIN)

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