Bush can only stall for so long before Iraqi quagmire drags him down The Daily Star

Opinion, September 2003, www.aljazeerah.info

Bush can only stall for so long before Iraqi quagmire drags him down

The Daily Star

9/24/03

George W. Bush’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday was not nearly as discouraging as some had feared, but nor did it move the Iraq controversy any closer to a viable solution. At best, the president of the United States seemed to be stalling for time, apparently under the illusion that standing still is a substitute for building the necessary support for a workable plan that might salvage the situation and quite possibly his chances of winning a second term in office.

Essentially, Bush and his advisers find themselves in a dilemma of their own creation. They need desperately to have other great powers to take on roles befitting their status but cannot make the necessary concessions without admitting to some extent that thus far they have made a mess of things. France and Germany, the leading opponents of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, remain highly skeptical of US intentions and especially of Bush’s methods. They are therefore exceedingly hesitant to lend troops and money in the service of a project over which the United States wants to enjoy unfettered control. Without their support, the laughable “coalition” currently occupying Iraq will continue to lack the legitimacy required to restore stability and get on with the business of reconstruction. And America will keep having to pay the gargantuan bills.

A charitable analysis would allow that the cyclical nature of UN politics caught the Bush administration in the awkward position of not having had enough time to promulgate a comprehensive plan for Iraq’s return to normalcy, or to gauge the potential of blueprints already produced by others. A more cynical view would see the speech as evidence that the White House is still refusing to recognize the hopelessness of going it alone and is waiting for the French and the Germans to start feeling guilty about not helping to extricate their old ally from an increasingly sticky morass.

There is a fleeting window of opportunity to reverse the downward spiral, and Bush has yet to demonstrate an understanding of how it might be put to good use. No one expects him to apologize for past mistakes, but a tacit acceptance that others might be capable of valuable input would seem to be in order. As The Daily Star noted on Monday, UN adviser and former Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh has proposed a plan that has considerable potential to accomplish some of the very goals emphasized by the United States. If Washington has yet to do the homework that might go into any well-conceived program of its own, the sensible course is to take a very close look at the suggestions of others. If nothing else, such an approach would at least go some way to burnishing America’s tattered credibility.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has accused critics of Bush’s policies in Iraq of encouraging terrorists. In actuality, it is American aimlessness that offers succor to its enemies by creating the impression that for all its might, the superpower is a very confused beast. Countries like France and Germany do not want America to fail, but nor do they want to be part of a disaster that they rightly see as being perfectly preventable. Their involvement might come with a heavy political price tag, but their continuing estrangement will be even more expensive.

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).