President George W. Bush’s speech Wednesday on Iraq, Palestine-Israel and related issues was, like America and its foreign policy, high on ambition and principles, deeply steeped in fine values, impressive in its scope and intent, and annoyingly perplexing in its fundamental contradictions and inconsistencies. The tone, substance, and applicability of the president’s remarks seem worthy of comment.
The tone of the remarks could fairly be described as “colonial light.” The president’s repeated allusions to his country representing the civilized world and the bad guys out there representing the barbarians echoes, with some muffling, the self-congratulatory tone of past colonial empires. Colonialism broadly ended half a century ago because it was universally deemed contradictory to basic human values and unsustainable politically and historically. Bush and his speechwriters tread on ugly landscapes by wrapping their message in the cloak of civilizational hierarchies, of “us and them” narratives that cater primarily to base instincts of anger, fear and revenge. The “colonial light” tone is also reflected in some of his unproven and unconvincing basic accusations, including the imminent threat by Iraq, and links between Baghdad and terror groups.
The substance of the president’s remarks, on the other hand, was rather impressive. No reasonable person could argue with his calls for peace, freedom, a strong and credible United Nations, a war to stamp out terror, adjacent Palestinian and Israeli states, a world defined by fraternity, and other fine goals. He has articulated specific values, aims and procedures that will find strong support throughout the world, including in our region ­ especially in our region, which has suffered much more from terror, war, injustice, occupation, disparities and tyranny than has the United States. We applaud the principles and goals that Bush articulated, as we have done virtually every time that he has spoken of these and related issues, and we still seek means to work with him to achieve them.
Our concern, though, is about the applicability of the president’s bold visions and aspirations. We and most of the other 400 million people out here in the Middle East and North Africa are profoundly skeptical about how, where, when and with whom the United States believes it should implement its impressive agenda for the region and the world. Frankly, we’ve heard many Western powers promising to bring peace, stability, democracy, prosperity, health and happiness to our lands, while simultaneously sending their armies marching in our direction; but we’ve rarely seen any of those promises kept, or fulfilled. The United States, for example, has had about 642 separate opportunities since 1967 to use its vast moral and political influence to achieve a goal that Bush promised again to achieve Wednesday night ­ an end to Israeli settlements and colonies in occupied Palestinian land. Many of the issues that he mentioned are within the power of the United States to address right now. Its failure to do so casts doubt on the credibility of its promises and its ability to fulfill its commitments. Washington’s noble words and the immense allure of its national values remain chronically unmatched by its diplomatic vigor or perseverance. America remains a land of mesmerizing attractions, dented by yawning, persistent gaps between its words and deeds.