The Sole Superpower
The hurricane, Katrina,
which devastated the Gulf coast of America,
has left in its wake a political storm.
Along with the badly botched Iraq misadventure
and the long shadow of 9/11, it has
impelled an unusual self-scrutiny in
America.
With the frustrations of Katrina and
Iraq merging together, and with no closure
in sight for the so-called ‘war
on terror’, the Bush administration
– blamed for it all – is
coming under relentless criticism in
America.
On Iraq, the criticism is tempered by
the constraint of being perceived as
unpatriotic, but on Katrina, the critics
have a relatively freer hand.
The slowness and ineptness of the Bush
administration’s response to the
disaster has dented America’s
self-image of its confidence and competence
to cope with the calamity. America’s
self-belief in it being an exceptionally
decent, strong, and compassionate nation
has been tested and found wanting.
Once, 80% of Americans were approving
of the way Bush was handling his Presidency.
Now, the figure has dramatically plummeted
to less than 40%. Then, too, there has
been a reversal of roles. A donor nation
has become a donation-receiving one.
There is also an irony of fate. Bush
– who had falsely linked Iraq
with 9/11 and accused it of developing
and possessing weapons of mass destruction
–in effect, has been blamed by
his own people for a natural catastrophe
called Katrina.
The seemingly invincible have become
the most vulnerable.
There is a larger lesson to be drawn
from all this. Sycophantic Muslim elites
have never missed an opportunity to
ad nauseam remind their own people as
well as Western policy-makers that the
US is the sole superpower. The underlying
message being that this ‘god’
was unchallengeable and, therefore,
the only option left was to genuflect.
It flouts the Islamic teachings on tauheed.
This could be one of the main reasons
why the Muslim elite is not genuinely
respected by the Muslim ‘street’
and is one key factor in fueling global
Muslim unrest.
Katrina has demonstrated the limits
of man-made power before the might of
Mother Nature. By exposing the hubris
and fragility of worldly power, it is
a salutary reminder of the permanence
of the one and only Superpower.
