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A groundswell of protests in U.S.

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

New York feb. 16. Thousands of people all over America took to the streets on Saturday protesting against the Bush administration's war preparations against Iraq.

In New York alone, a gathering estimated in the upwards of 350,000 rallied some 20 blocks spread over three avenues around the United Nations. Police denied permission for the marchers to be anywhere around the U.N. headquarters. "Let America listen to the rest of the world — and the rest of the world is saying: Give the inspectors time,'' said Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa.

The protestors braved the blustery winter weather here and were peaceful. Police who had turned out in strength for the event said that 50 arrests were made with eight officers injured. Anti-war rallies were also organised in Chicago, Philadelphia, Miami and Seattle. In all, some 150 cities witnessed rallies. If there was one message that was coming across the protests, it was that the Bush administration was rushing into a war with Iraq; and that the world by and large was opposed to military action.

The Republican administration was also being reminded of the need to keep the United Nations Security Council on its side, which is what opinion surveys are conveying on almost a daily basis. Unfazed by the magnitude of the protests within the country and globally, the Bush administration is going about with the preparations. Iraq's `strategy'

Meanwhile the New York Times, quoting intelligence officials, has reported that Iraq, in a bid to slow down the advancing forces led by the U.S., is drawing up a strategy that would blow up dams, bridges and setting fire to oil fields. The regime of the Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, is also preparing to deprive the population of food so that the advancing forces would be saddled with that problems as well.

The Iraqi regime, according to the paper, is planning to use the elite Republican Guard units for the defence of Baghdad and some of these units have been provided with chemical warfare gear. This has apparently led U.S. intelligence officials to conclude that Iraq will use poison gas or germ weapons if it came to a military showdown.

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