Topic of Terror Overshadowing All Others (washingtonpost.com)
It's very upsetting to me to see the Bush administration attempting to overwhelm dozens of important issues by painting everything in the light of the so-called "war on terror." It's becoming clear to me that there is no such thing as the "war on terror" - it is a fiction that the president has used as a blank check to advance a wide variety of policy changes. With no electoral mandate (a majority of Americans voted against Bush) and a candidate who had promised to "be a uniter, not a divider," Bush needed some sort of cloak to wrap his aggressive neocon agenda inside. While "compassionate conservatism" went nowhere for him, the "war" he manufactured against "terror" has been just the snake oil Dr. Bush was looking for.
The Bush administration doesn't have a leg to stand on when it comes to the economy, civil liberties, education, the environment, foreign policy, and the federal deficit. How does a president with such an abysmal record campaign for reelection, you ask? He turns everything into a facet of the one issue where he is (inexplicably) popular - the "war on terror" that, as a piece of administration propaganda, is his signature "issue":
Topic of Terror Overshadowing All Others (washingtonpost.com)
Of course I'm not suggesting that America has not been savagely attacked by terrorists, nor am I such a Polyanna to believe that those enemies are not actively plotting against us, to strike again and again. I am not such a peacnik that I believe we should take no action against them.
But in creating a "war" against an ill-defined and open-ended concept (as opposed to a specific organization or state), the Bush administration has launched us into a conflict that can never be won, and must by its very nature continue forever. Terrorism cannot be ended - although there are many things to be done to thwart it. Wars continue until one side or the other prevails, and a truce is called. Nothing of the sort can possibly happen in this "war on terror": We clearly cannot allow the terrorists to prevail. The terrorists, however, will never admit that we have prevailed. (Besides, any kook can commit an act of terrorism - in order for us to prevail in our war, we would need to rid the world of kooks for all time... not going to happen.) No truce will be called between America and the terrorists, and no side will dominate the other into submission. To use the "war" metaphor here is to commit this nation to a military commitment that stretches as far as the eye can see.
This suits the administration, because it keeps the population in a state of constant fear. As long as Americans can be told "we're at war," they'll be willing to make "sacrifices" in the name of security. "We need to check your library records, in order to keep you safe." "We need to read your e-mail, in order to keep you safe." "We need to drill into the ANWAR refuge for oil, in order to keep you safe." "We need to give tax cuts to the millionaires, in order to keep you safe." Ad nauseum.
The Bush administration has taken an actual concern (terrorist attacks against American targets) and created a fictional "war," complete with fictional targets (Iraq, which never had any involvement in Sept. 11, although Bush administration officials STILL conflate Saddam and Osama). All the while the administration has used their "war" as a tool to advance a radical neoconservative agenda with no electoral mandate, and to twist the real electoral issues into convenient propaganda pieces.
Bush has got to go. This country cannot endure another four years with this administration at the helm.
The Bush administration doesn't have a leg to stand on when it comes to the economy, civil liberties, education, the environment, foreign policy, and the federal deficit. How does a president with such an abysmal record campaign for reelection, you ask? He turns everything into a facet of the one issue where he is (inexplicably) popular - the "war on terror" that, as a piece of administration propaganda, is his signature "issue":
Topic of Terror Overshadowing All Others (washingtonpost.com)
Of course I'm not suggesting that America has not been savagely attacked by terrorists, nor am I such a Polyanna to believe that those enemies are not actively plotting against us, to strike again and again. I am not such a peacnik that I believe we should take no action against them.
But in creating a "war" against an ill-defined and open-ended concept (as opposed to a specific organization or state), the Bush administration has launched us into a conflict that can never be won, and must by its very nature continue forever. Terrorism cannot be ended - although there are many things to be done to thwart it. Wars continue until one side or the other prevails, and a truce is called. Nothing of the sort can possibly happen in this "war on terror": We clearly cannot allow the terrorists to prevail. The terrorists, however, will never admit that we have prevailed. (Besides, any kook can commit an act of terrorism - in order for us to prevail in our war, we would need to rid the world of kooks for all time... not going to happen.) No truce will be called between America and the terrorists, and no side will dominate the other into submission. To use the "war" metaphor here is to commit this nation to a military commitment that stretches as far as the eye can see.
This suits the administration, because it keeps the population in a state of constant fear. As long as Americans can be told "we're at war," they'll be willing to make "sacrifices" in the name of security. "We need to check your library records, in order to keep you safe." "We need to read your e-mail, in order to keep you safe." "We need to drill into the ANWAR refuge for oil, in order to keep you safe." "We need to give tax cuts to the millionaires, in order to keep you safe." Ad nauseum.
The Bush administration has taken an actual concern (terrorist attacks against American targets) and created a fictional "war," complete with fictional targets (Iraq, which never had any involvement in Sept. 11, although Bush administration officials STILL conflate Saddam and Osama). All the while the administration has used their "war" as a tool to advance a radical neoconservative agenda with no electoral mandate, and to twist the real electoral issues into convenient propaganda pieces.
Bush has got to go. This country cannot endure another four years with this administration at the helm.
posted by Bob at
1:47 PM
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