It is very curious to me why nobody has highlighted the anti-Americanism of President Bush and his fellow anti-peace warriors.
The Bushites have demonstrated an absolute contempt for democracy, even as they spew idealistic rhetoric about disseminating it throughout the Middle East. I agree with columnist Molly Ivins that if the warhawks were sincere in their conviction to bring democracy to Iraq, they should make it their first item of business to allow the Iraqi people to vote on whether they would rather be ruled by a brutal dictator or incinerated by exploding American missiles.
Perhaps it is too much to expect Bush to respect democracy when he was not in fact elected by the democratic will of the people, but by the ideological agenda of five conservative Supreme Court judges.
Now, I understand that our system of government is not a pure democracy in which the majority will rules in all cases. Leaders can – and often do – act contrary to popular opinion when their convictions lead them elsewhere. Nonetheless, we expect those leaders who act in such a manner to hold off from acting until they have persuaded a majority of people to support or, at the very least, not oppose their plans. This mode of operating should hold especially true when the issue at hand is war.
For seven months now, the beat of the war drums has been emanating from the White House, and the mounting opposition to war is proof the warhawks have failed to make their case.
This failure is made all the more spectacular by the egregious amount of lies, deception and propaganda the administration has employed to build a backing. Here’s a quick recap of some of the whoppers they’ve been caught telling so far.
Back in late September 2002, Bush cited an IAEA report claiming that in 1998 Iraq was six months away from developing a nuclear weapon. Soon after the IAEA denied having ever produced such a report.
In early February of this year, chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix rejected Secretary of State Colin Powell’s claim that there was evidence the Iraqis had mobile biological weapons laboratories and were trying to foil inspectors by moving equipment before his teams arrived.
Later that month CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips interviewed disgruntled U.N. weapons inspectors, who had found nothing following U.S. tips on where to find hidden weapons. Phillips reported that one of the inspectors had called the tips “garbage after garbage after garbage.”
Finally, and most recently, the United Nations’ chief nuclear inspector, Mohamed ElBaradei, accused the United States of providing fabricated evidence to his agency. ElBaradei deemed documents showing that Iraqi officials had shopped for uranium in Africa two years ago “not authentic.” ElBaradei also rejected claims repeatedly made by Colin Powell that Iraq had tried to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes to use in centrifuges in uranium enrichment.
With so much unearthed deception, I find it increasingly difficult to believe anything coming from the White House.
Our democracy cannot survive much more mendacity, and all those who believe in democracy and the other ideals this country stands for must demand honesty and protest Bush’s anti-American craving for war.
Tang is a third-year political science student.