Provocative Bush

by Syed Atiq ul Hassan

After deposing Taliban and ravaging Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, the next plan of US is to eliminate the Islamic missionaries and groups running in various parts of the world and to demolish the powers of those Islamic countries where anti-American regimes exist. The rulers of the Muslim states are continuously being pushed and under watch on fulfilling US agenda to eliminate the Islamic groups except Palestine where this assignment has been given to Ariel Sharon to annihilate all the Palestinian freedom movements. To persuade on the second item in the agenda internally and internationally, the Bush administration is desperately trying to ascertain the support from the American public, European allies, Russia and Arab countries - to launch fresh attacks on Iraq. The objective is to demolish the remaining military power and bring the pro-US government in Iraq. Subsequently Iran might be the next target.

To gain internal backing from its own people, the Bush administration and the intelligence agencies are trying to frighten the American public that they are still at war. Prior to the visit of George W. Bush to Europe and Russia, Vice-President Dick Cheney said another attack was "almost certain". FBI Chief Robert S. Mueller III said suicide bombings on US soil are "inevitable". Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld added more – he declared that some Al-Qaeda members have succeeded entering in to America - these terrorists would get weapons of mass destruction and would not hesitate one minute in using them - the Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn Bridge could be the possible targets and so on. In his recent statement the Vice President, Dick Cheney said that US knew "with certainty" that al-Qaeda was trying to obtain biological and nuclear weapons; September 11 was not a discreet event but part of "an ongoing campaign of terror against the US" that meant Americans were living in "a time of war". It seems that the Bush administration believes more in scaring its own people but is weak on productive measures to defuse the global tension.

Even if it is believed that the US is expecting further attacks, with weapons of mass destruction, then how effective was that “war against terrorism” which killed thousands of innocents in Afghanistan and captured hundreds - put them in cages in a tiny island of Cuba - yet the entire US-led force unable to find out the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Omer for whom Bush decreed to “smoke them out and bring them dead or alive”?

One fears that Bush’s antagonistic attitude - like a Texan cowboy in the duel field - and the prejudiced policies of his administration will push the US and the Muslim World into endless acts of attacks and counter-attacks in a showdown of terrorism.

It would not be inappropriate to quote here the remarks of Iranian Defence Minister Rear-Admiral Ali Shamkhani about Bush in a recent interview on the state television. He said, “Mr. Bush thinks that the (current) era is an era of cowboys, that the world is a Texan one, and that he is the sheriff".

There are ample evidences that show Bush's leadership is unconvincing in the world and ineffective at home. The US Secretary of State Colin Powell admitted in the recent interview to The New York Times that before Bush came to the White House, "he had never been involved in this level of international interaction or diplomatic activity".

The Post September 11 (attacks in US) was the golden opportunity for Bush to expose his leadership by pulling the world together and inducing confidence in the American public. Oppositely, he presided over a rift with Europe, a chronically inept Middle East policy, an ongoing US unilateralism, security deterioration in Afghanistan and created fears in the Arab world by unjustified threats to Iraq, at the same time, silently watching and letting Ariel Sharon turning the civilian population in Jenin (the town of Palestine) into debris - killing unaccountable civilians using heavy military force.

The ongoing inflexible and offensive policies of Bush have brought him into a series of alliance management problems. He finds it now hard to keep Europe or NATO in coalition in the war against terrorism. The war has now led to a rift rather than a unity between the Atlantic partners, surely a strategic blunder. Bush failed to mobilise the initial European goodwill towards the US. This is the reason that few Europeans think that this is a war of the US not for them. They feel that supporting the US is not paying any positive outcome instead earning a hostile image in the eyes of the Muslim World.

This is probably the first time when an American President received such huge anti-ism on the streets of Europe during Bush’s recent visit to Germany and France. He has faced large anti-demonstration on the streets of western cities against his plan of fresh attacks on Iraq.

In his speech at the D-Day beaches at Normandy, he again said about Saddam, "He's a dictator who gassed his own people” – understandably referring to Kurds. The man - who first speaks then thinks - didn’t realise that the Kurds whom Saddam viciously gassed were fighting for Iran and that the US, at the time, was on Saddam's side.

In a joint press conference with French President Chirac, Bush linked the struggle against Nazism during World War II with the "modern-day sacrifices" of his war on terrorism and the military campaign in Afghanistan. He said, "Memorial Day in my country is a day to honour those who have sacrificed for freedom, given their lives ... - We still fight people who hate civilization - civilization that we love - they can't stand freedom”. His whole concern was that America must not be isolated in the war against terrorism. Yet, Bush’s suspicious, half-told and hostile remarks has been heavily criticised in the western press.

Across the former Soviet southern Muslim republics, the US is building air bases, helping to pursue the "war on terror" against any violent Muslim Islamist groups that dare to challenge the local dictators. Bush also wants Russia to keep a side step while the US takes any hostile action against Iran. He is looking for bargain with Putin on that issue.

During his visit to Russia, his intentions overtly observed that he tried to corner the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, on his threats to Iran. He wants the Russians to lean on the northern bit of the "axis of evil", the puerile remarks, which he still trots out to the masses.

Bush’s contrary behaviour for Muslim and the western world has constrained the Muslim leaders particularly the Arabs to review their policies with the US. The Post September 11 events especially the killings of thousands of innocent civilians in Afghanistan and barbaric acts of Sharon in Palestine have further opened the eyes of Muslims watching the double standards of Bush’s policies.

This is first time when the people of Saudi Arabia crossed the boundaries of their tough laws, came out on the streets in favour of the oppressed people of Palestine and compelled the Saudi leadership to speak loudly in support of the people of Palestine. The Arab leaders have shown a great deal of sensibility particularly the Crown Prince Abdullah when he firmly made it clear to Bush that his country would not support US to attack Iraq again. Iraq and Iran are trying to normalize their relations. Egypt threatened to discontinue their diplomatic relations with Israel that is if Israel prolongs its ongoing operations on Palestine land. The US administration has spent most of its time denying that the progress towards a Middle East settlement was pivotal to its war on terrorism. Bush grasps that he needs to reactivate a peace process but doesn't know how. The administration seems to have promised the Saudis it would act, yet it heavily identifies the US war on terrorism with that of Israel but no progress for the Palestinian land. On the return of his visit from America, Crown Prince Abdullah while talking to the media remarked about Bush as “the man who watches the 9 O’clock domestic news and sleeps, he doesn’t know much about international affairs”.

One would agree that since the September 11 attacks, US has earned more hatred than sympathy, more problems than solutions, more violence than peace and more isolation than friends.

In conclusion, this is the time for Bush administration to review their policies and accept the ground realities. However, if Bush continues to follow the hard-line, unilateralism and unviable policy and persist to launch a 2nd series of desert storm on Iraq then he will be asking for more trouble.

Syed Atiq ul Hassan,
Freelance Journalist / Political Analyst.
Phone: 61-2-9707 1535, Fax: 61-2-9709 4867
P.O.Box: A1113, Sydney South NSW Australia.