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CounterPunch
January
30, 2003
Heavy
Rhetoric, Wistful Thinking & Hydrogen Cars
A Response to
the State of the Union
By MUQTEDAR KHAN
I listened to the President's State of the Union
address with growing boredom and a sense that I was being duped.
Rather than talk about the state of the union, which would be
delving in depth on the declining economy and the globalization
of anti-Americanism, President Bush chose to speak about the
wonderful things he hopes to do for the wonderful people of America.
He went down the laundry list of domestic issues, education,
health care, economy and touched upon abortion and cloning by
employing a serious of crowd pleasing slogans/promises instead
of analysis and facts. The only exciting issue that he had was
his promise to those born today, that one day they would drive
a car run by hydrogen whose only exhaust would be water. His
only achievement seems to be the 674 million dollar stimulus
package that the Congress has yet to pass.
On foreign policy, he promised a war
against Iraq without declaring a war. He insisted on maintaining
his unilateralist approach to world affairs and went to great
lengths to show that since his previous lecture he has learnt
that there are significant differences in the circumstances of
Iran, Iraq and North Korea. He promised to spread democracy in
the world even if America had to do it alone and by force. Force
democracy? Am I the only one who is puzzled? I however do not
understand why someone who is so committed to democracy would
be opposed to global democracy and insist on unilateralism if
the vote went against the US in the UN Security Council. Why
is he so eager to compromise democracy when it does not suit
his agenda? How can he be both, pro-democracy and anti-democracy?
Perhaps Professor Rice should explain to him that unilateralism
in principle is antithetical to the spirit of democracy.
The only proposal that I appreciated
was his promise to help fight AIDS in Africa. If implemented
it will definitely save many lives. Maybe on the Day of Judgment
the lives he saves in Africa may save him from a harsher reckoning
for the many innocent lives he plans to take in the war on Iraq.
Declining Democracy
and Economy
Under George W. Bush, America has made
great strides. It has gone from a $250 billion surplus to nearly
$250 billion in deficit and the family feud against Iraq, that
has yet to begin, will cost the American taxpayer at least $60
billion in destroying Iraq and another $100 billion in rebuilding
it. Americans have lost over 1.5 million jobs under his watch,
over 100,000 last month alone, and most States (28/50) are now
suffering from huge deficits in their budgets. President Bush
himself has silently conceded mismanagement of the economy by
sacking his financial team midway (including senior aides such
as the Treasury Secretary and the Chief Economic Advisor). But
unfortunately he has not learnt that it is not people but policies
that mess economies. He should be changing his policies not the
people who implement them for him.
George W. Bush has given American democracy
a new meaning. It is a place where people contest elections and
the one who gets lesser votes becomes the president. The USA
Patriot Act passed by the Congress last year at his behest, undermines
several important civil rights enshrined in the Bill of Rights.
Today the idea of "due process", which used to be the
corner stone of justice in America, has now become an undue burden
to the American legal system. Not only has the Bush administration
violated international law in its treatment of prisoners of war
it has also violated fundamental principles of the US constitution
in its treatment of several people arrested in the US since September
11th.
Globalization
of Anti-Americanism
After the tragic attacks on September
11th, this president promised us two things; he would eliminate
Al Qaeda and he would win the hearts and minds of those who hated
America. But this President has succeeded not only in increasing
hatred towards America in most of the Middle East by making injudicious
statements such as, "if you are not with us you are against
us" (tell that to France, Russia, China and UN who are not
with the US on the war on Iraq), "Axis of Evil" (it
spurred the North Koreans to go nuclear), and the use of the
"Crusade" word which has become the metaphor for his
policies in most of the Muslim World, but he has also succeeded
in making Asians and Europeans also hate and distrust America.
In Germany as well as in South Korea the most vocal anti-American
politicians won elections recently. Rather than reducing hate
George Bush's policies, style and statements are contributing
to the globalization of anti-Americanism.
Even at home he is determined to generate
disenchantment. Immediately after the Trent Lott affair, who
was finally exposed for having preference for the pre-civil rights
America, President Bush decided to appease the haves and alienate
the have-nots, by coming up with a stimulus package that gives
tax breaks on dividends (to fat cats with huge investment portfolios)
and deciding to oppose affirmative action (designed to help underprivileged
minorities). The irony of this position seems to have escaped
him and many of his supporters. He is himself a poster child
for affirmative action - a not so bright guy, with modest grades
and even modest SATs who went to Yale and then Harvard only because
he was born a Bush!
Bushel of Blunders
To put it bluntly, President Bush has
ruined the economy; his management of foreign policy has alienated
the world so much so that in a recent Times Europe survey 84%
Europeans (our allies) rated America as the state that posed
the most danger to the World and North Korea and Iraq got similar
votes from only 7% and 8% respondents! The World has lost trust
in America and it demands proof, conclusive proof, for every
claim we make. In spite of spending billions of dollars on the
so-called war on terror, Bin Laden is still free and Al Qaeda
still powerful and busy launching attacks (Bali and
Kenya). The Taliban are back and the
American choice for President, Karzai, has been reduced to the
status of a Mayor of Kabul (so much for democracy in Afghanistan).
The anthrax bomber is still free to kill. The Middle East crisis
continues to rage. Assuming that President Bush's statements
about the Palestinian State were disingenuous and he had no intent
to follow through on his promises, he is still letting Israel
slowly unravel. The Palestinian uprising will cost America another
$10-14 Billion dollars in foreign aid to Israel, adding to the
already burgeoning foreign policy bill that US can ill afford.
President Bush in two years has amassed
a long list of failures. His only successes are the midterm elections
and his periodic handouts to the rich in forms of tax cuts. He
duped Americans in the midterm elections by talking about Iraq
and not the economy. But as the economy declines and the purse
begins to pinch, even the gullible, and poorly informed American
voters will know that something is going terribly wrong.
If I were President, instead of Iraq,
Iraq, Iraq and Hydrogen Car, my priorities would be, to create
new jobs, fight the deficits (Federal and State), finish Al Qaeda
and bolster education.
Muqtedar Khan
is Director of International Studies at Adrian College in Adrian,
Michigan and the author of American
Muslims: Bridging Faith and Freedom. He can be reached at:
muqtedar@yahoo.com
Yesterday's
Features
Sheldon Hull
An Extended
Promo with No Payoff
Notes on the State of George W. Bush
Emily Zitter-Smith
Watching
TV in Cairo
Linda Heard
Showdown
at the Crawford Corale
Mike James
Smear Pete Townshend, Cover Up Blair's Cabinet:
Alleged Pedophiles in Britain's War Room
Kathryn Casa
The Other
State of the Union
Brian Cloughley
WMD:
Okay, Where Are They?
Gloria Bergen
Work
That Kills
Mark Weisbrot
Another
World is Possible
Alexander Cockburn
Yes, That Was the President
Philip Farruggio
My Flag Held Hostage
Adam Engel
Domicide
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January 25
/ 26, 2003
Ron Jacobs
Iraq
War as Football Game
Bill and Kathy
Christison
Too Many Smoking Guns: Israel, American Jews and the War on Iraq
Chris Clarke
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Bruce Jackson
Killing an Oak Tree: a Gratuitous Death
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Porto Allegre Diary II: Building the Party, Lula Style
Forrest Hylton
Left Turns in South America
Edward Said
When Will Arabs Resist?
William A.
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Israeli
Democracy: Fact or Fiction?
Anthony Gancarski
America Never Was America to Me
Subcomandante
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Zaps to Basques: Lighten Up!
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Music Lives in Palestine
Marta Russell
Extinguishing Frida Kahlo
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Man in the Black Suit: a novelini
Read
Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
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