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A post-war Iraq conceived in the freedom from tyranny and fear
is Bush's and his sidekick Blair's dream and promise. Only time
will tell if Iraq does evolve into a democratic society free of
Saddam and the imperialist west. As regards the attacks on the
Twin Towers, there should be no doubt of their inevitability.
They "were to be expected and should have come as no
surprise," argues Lapham. And behind it there is only one
cause: the vainglorious dream of power that wholly and solely
underpins the American foreign policy, a dream that is
synonymous with the Arab jihadis. Writing against the grain,
Lapham asks a vital question: For what reason do we possess the
largest store of weapons known to the history of mankind if not
to kill as many people as we declare to be our enemies? Why then
should our enemies not kill us?
The war on
terrorism is an imaginary war, with no tangible targets; the
enemy is unknown. However, the war is perfectly consistent with
the practice of previous US administrations. A major part of the
last century has been the history of "holy crusades,"
a never-ending war that began with President Roosevelt's take
over of the Panama Canal Zone in November 1903 and then in April
1914 President Wilson sending his army into Mexico to dethrone a
ruler that was a thorn in his foreign policy. No legality of
such actions was taken into consideration and the only
justification of such bloody invasions was the larger good of
humanity and the future of our civilisation. Bush too is a past
master at using such rationalism in support of the war.
The so-called
"messianic agenda" of his administration is on the
anvil for implementation in Libya, North Korea, Lebanon, Syria,
Yemen, and the Philippine archipelago. It was Germany, Italy and
Japan that were the evil antagonists during the Second World
War, followed by the Cold War, which became as integral to the
American system as 'General Motors and Iowa corn'. American
goodness of heart and innocence remained an everlasting refrain
with the political leaders who made it their sacred cause to
fight evil, ignoring all the time their own hand in appalling
genocides around the world. This holier-than-though attitude
rings false till today as much as it has over its long
imperialist history which can be "understood as a rake's
progress`85exhibiting itself in the character of a profligate
heir to what was once an immense fortune" or, shall we call
it, an "inherited estate."
Western
civilisation thus in the post-war era became synonymous with US
civilisation, especially when most of Europe lay in disarray:
Germany in ruins, France in a state of disintegration,
"both as a nation and the embodiment of an idea," and
Britain so fed up of its imperial pretensions that it voted
Churchill out of power a few weeks after the war. Its politics
of commercial enterprise did not leave out military expeditions
in the Caribbean or Latin American countries. And still people
around the world regarded the American as an amiable and
good-natured individual incapable of harming the interests of
the people of other nations.
Her military
triumphalism has come to be regarded by its people as an act of
providence. Her politics a light-hearted entertainment and all
the world a theatre in "which to tell the story of
America's enlightened munificence, to stage a revival of liberty
in Southeast Asia, improve the character of Guatemala. Do
something significant for Turkey, effect a change of attitude in
the Balkans."
This flippancy was
clear from Kennedy's entourage of actresses, authors, movie
directors and Bush's frequent sojourns at Camp David fooling
around with his poodles, waving at the crowd as if he was a
Hollywood celebrity. Why not undertake a war in Iraq and
nonchalantly take a jaunty walk with his pets in the lawns of
the White House with a snigger on his face? How many die on the
stage does not effect his style or composure.
If the museum in
Iraq is ransacked, an irreparable harm to one of the oldest art
collections in human history, the Marines look on. But when it
comes to the Ministry of Oil, not a record is allowed to be
touched; so much so, this is the only building that escapes
unscathed in Baghdad, giving a clear message as to the sole
purpose of the war. The reason for being in Vietnam was a lie.
So too is the reason for being in Iraq. Teaching the world a
lesson in democracy is eyewash.
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