Bush at the UN
Bush at the UN
Updated 10:00pm (Mla time) Sept 25, 2004
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the September 26, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
LAST week, at the annual opening of the UN General Assembly, George W. Bush presented a campaigner's vision of a free and democratic Iraq. "Iraq as a democracy will have great power to inspire the Middle East," the US president said in a 30-minute speech, suggesting that Iraq is well on its way to becoming a shining example of democracy in action.
The sad truth is, Iraq today is capable only of inspiring fear: fear that American stubbornness and stupidity will make the volatile Middle East even more unstable, and terror-stricken nations even more unsafe.
In his speech, Bush spoke as if the situation in Iraq was well in hand. "Across Iraq, life is being improved by liberty. Across the Middle East, people are safer because an unstable aggressor has been removed from power. Across the world, nations are more secure because an ally of terror has fallen."
The sad truth is, Iraq is descending into chaos-and nations as a consequence are less secure.
Since the invasion of Iraq, over a thousand American soldiers and possibly 10,000 Iraqis have lost their lives in increasingly out-of-control acts of violence. After another visit to Iraq, Jessica Matthews, the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, reported: "Average daily attacks have climbed from 22 to 87, and crucial parts of the country are no longer under US (or Iraqi government) control. What was an emerging opposition is now a full-fledged insurgency. The United States is still without a political strategy that recognizes this reality."
Part of the reality that Bush fails to recognize is that the enemies of the US-led coalition occupying Iraq are not necessarily terrorists or even former supporters of the odious regime of Saddam Hussein. "We are conducting precision raids against terrorists and holdouts of the former regime," Bush said. "These killers are at war with the Iraqi people. They have made Iraq the central front in the war on terror and they will be defeated."
The sad truth is, it was the Bush administration that decided to make Iraq the "central front" in the war on terror. Saddam was a corrupt and abusive dictator, but his regime had no ties to Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda terrorist network. Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq did not lend its resources to the September 11 terrorists. Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq did not harbor Bin Laden. Iraq was on the periphery in the war on terror-until the White House decided to invade and occupy it. It is the "central front" for Bush only because more American soldiers die there than in any other area of assignment, killed by Iraqi insurgents waging guerrilla warfare.
In his speech, Bush also finessed the reason for invading Iraq in the first place. There are only two or three brief mentions of weapons of mass destruction. But the destruction of the hated Saddam regime is played up for paragraphs on end. "The true monuments of his rule and his character, the torture chambers and the rape rooms and the prison cells for innocent children, are closed. And as we discover the killing fields and mass graves of Iraq, the true scale of Saddam's cruelty is being revealed."
The sad truth is, there was never any question about the horrific nature of Saddam's misrule. The issue was whether an invasion against a country with weapons of mass destruction could be launched without the sanction of the United Nations. The result of American unilateralism, of going it alone with a few token allies, is Bush's pathetic half-truth: The United States did find more evidence of Saddam's cruelty, but not a single evidence of any WMD.
Now half-truths are useful lies; they are a diplomat's stock in trade. That is partly why Bush's speech at the United Nations met a cold reception. He was lying through his teeth, before an audience familiar with both his lies and the conventions of lying. They saw through him.
Professionally polite, they did not laugh when they saw that the emperor had no clothes on, not even a fig leaf of legitimacy or credibility to cover his vital parts. They merely waited till the end of his speech, before giving Bush the traditional round of applause.
Updated 10:00pm (Mla time) Sept 25, 2004
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the September 26, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
LAST week, at the annual opening of the UN General Assembly, George W. Bush presented a campaigner's vision of a free and democratic Iraq. "Iraq as a democracy will have great power to inspire the Middle East," the US president said in a 30-minute speech, suggesting that Iraq is well on its way to becoming a shining example of democracy in action.
The sad truth is, Iraq today is capable only of inspiring fear: fear that American stubbornness and stupidity will make the volatile Middle East even more unstable, and terror-stricken nations even more unsafe.
In his speech, Bush spoke as if the situation in Iraq was well in hand. "Across Iraq, life is being improved by liberty. Across the Middle East, people are safer because an unstable aggressor has been removed from power. Across the world, nations are more secure because an ally of terror has fallen."
The sad truth is, Iraq is descending into chaos-and nations as a consequence are less secure.
Since the invasion of Iraq, over a thousand American soldiers and possibly 10,000 Iraqis have lost their lives in increasingly out-of-control acts of violence. After another visit to Iraq, Jessica Matthews, the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, reported: "Average daily attacks have climbed from 22 to 87, and crucial parts of the country are no longer under US (or Iraqi government) control. What was an emerging opposition is now a full-fledged insurgency. The United States is still without a political strategy that recognizes this reality."
Part of the reality that Bush fails to recognize is that the enemies of the US-led coalition occupying Iraq are not necessarily terrorists or even former supporters of the odious regime of Saddam Hussein. "We are conducting precision raids against terrorists and holdouts of the former regime," Bush said. "These killers are at war with the Iraqi people. They have made Iraq the central front in the war on terror and they will be defeated."
The sad truth is, it was the Bush administration that decided to make Iraq the "central front" in the war on terror. Saddam was a corrupt and abusive dictator, but his regime had no ties to Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda terrorist network. Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq did not lend its resources to the September 11 terrorists. Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq did not harbor Bin Laden. Iraq was on the periphery in the war on terror-until the White House decided to invade and occupy it. It is the "central front" for Bush only because more American soldiers die there than in any other area of assignment, killed by Iraqi insurgents waging guerrilla warfare.
In his speech, Bush also finessed the reason for invading Iraq in the first place. There are only two or three brief mentions of weapons of mass destruction. But the destruction of the hated Saddam regime is played up for paragraphs on end. "The true monuments of his rule and his character, the torture chambers and the rape rooms and the prison cells for innocent children, are closed. And as we discover the killing fields and mass graves of Iraq, the true scale of Saddam's cruelty is being revealed."
The sad truth is, there was never any question about the horrific nature of Saddam's misrule. The issue was whether an invasion against a country with weapons of mass destruction could be launched without the sanction of the United Nations. The result of American unilateralism, of going it alone with a few token allies, is Bush's pathetic half-truth: The United States did find more evidence of Saddam's cruelty, but not a single evidence of any WMD.
Now half-truths are useful lies; they are a diplomat's stock in trade. That is partly why Bush's speech at the United Nations met a cold reception. He was lying through his teeth, before an audience familiar with both his lies and the conventions of lying. They saw through him.
Professionally polite, they did not laugh when they saw that the emperor had no clothes on, not even a fig leaf of legitimacy or credibility to cover his vital parts. They merely waited till the end of his speech, before giving Bush the traditional round of applause.
posted by Dante at 12:00 AM
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