Now
that Mr. Bush Has Won
By Dr S. Amjad Hussain
Four
More Years! Four More Years!
The chant reverberated across the land and a majority
of Americans, decidedly a thin one, agreed. Whether
John Kerry, who went down fighting for very last
vote, would have been a better choice is now a moot
question. If Mr. Bush wishes to unite a bitterly
divided and polarized country he ought to be guided
by his own words he delivered in his victory speech.
‘A new term, he said, ‘is a new opportunity
to reach out to the whole nation’.
Apart from the fissures within, we are also confronted
with an unprecedented distrust and hatred of America
in the rest of the world. The new term ought to
be a new start to re-assess our priorities as a
nation and try to extricate us from the shackles
of past misadventures and miscalculations. Here
is my short list of foreign policy issues that beg
for a change in our approach.
Iraq: The first priority has to be to contain the
worsening situation in Iraq. We need to know what
the President means by the refrain ‘staying
the course’, that he was fond of saying during
the campaign. It is time Mr. Bush accepts that things
have gone horribly wrong in Iraq. He needs to come
down from his high horse and get the UN and our
European allies on board and offer them a stake
in Iraq. Let us accept that the Coalition of the
willing is really a cosmetic coalition of the reluctant
(with notable exception of Great Britain) and unless
we get others involved we will not be able to finish
the job. We just do not have enough forces to do
all that is needed and unless we are willing to
mortgage the future of our children and grandchildren
there is not enough money either.
Afghanistan: In some ways Afghanistan is a bigger
challenge than Iraq. While terrorists activity in
Iraq is a recent phenomenon it is deeply entrenched
in Afghanistan. Three years after the fall of the
Taliban the country is still in turmoil. The writ
of Hamid Karzai is limited to the capital Kabul
and the warlords reign the country with impunity.
Poppy cultivation is in full swing and most of that
crop ends up on our streets. Reconstruction, stabilization
of Afghanistan has be a top priority in Mr. Bush’s
second term.
Mr. Bush also has to be sensitive to religious feelings
of Afghan people and rein in the proselytizing men
and women masquerading as aid workers. These zealots
could stay home and help save wayward Christians
in this country than insulting the sensibilities
of people half a world away. Afghan women also need
emancipation but not according to the gospel of
American Feminist Movement. Yanking away a woman’s
burqa in Afghanistan is not the same as throwing
away one’s bra in Manhattan.
Palestine: Mr. Bush in his first term all but gave
a cart blanch to Mr. Ariel Sharon. Mr. Sharon, using
the guise of his unilateral withdrawal from Gaza,
has shredded the Middle East Road Map. Even the
much-touted exit from Gaza, according to Mr. Sharon’s
close advisor Mr. Dov Weisglass, is nothing more
than a smoke and mirror act to pacify Mr. Bush.
All the posturing and rhetoric aside the Israeli
people have to decide if they are willing to give
back, in return for peace, the Palestinian land
they have occupied since 1967. In Israel the agenda
is being driven by the far right, the Jewish Hezbollah
as Tom Friedman of the New York Times call them,
who have vowed not to cede an inch of the Palestinians
land to its rightful owners. Their claim on Palestinian
land is no more valid than the claim a group of
squatters might make in a court of law in a civil
society.
Greater Muslim and Arab World: The President needs
to repair relations with the greater Muslim and
Arab world. There is a groundswell of resentment
and hatred against our country in that part of the
world. In his efforts to connect the dots between
9/11, Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussain President Bush
has, inadvertently, delegated the rest of the world
to the enemy camp. His simplistic you-are-with-us-or-you-are-with-the-terrorists
approach has offended a great number of our friend
around the world.
Mr. Graham Allen, a member of the ruling Labor Party
in British Parliament, summed it up rather eloquently
when he said that if America does not reach out
to its friends then its enemies would reach out
to America.
I hope Mr. Bush is listening.
