Culminating an emotional day commemorating the fifth anniversary of the terror attacks on America, President George W. Bush went before the nation Monday night to tell the American people "Today we are safer, but we are not yet safe."
Those are true words spoken by the president. Well, at least some of them are. This was supposed to be a nonpartisan speech to commemorate the five-year mark since the September 11, 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans. However, Bush managed to turn the speech into partisan rhetoric.
Let's be clear about one thing; the president's sentence taken as it stands is not true. But cut it into two parts and it becomes more realistic. "We are not yet safe." That is very true. As for the first part of the sentence, "today we are safer," that remains debatable.
How much safer are we now, and as opposed to when? How much safer in relation to what? Safer than pre-9/11? Safer when terrorists continue to plot to blow up airlines out of the sky?
How much safer is America today with the country engaged in fighting three different wars? Yes, three wars. US forces are currently deployed in Afghanistan fighting the war against the Taliban and the resurgence of the poppy plant that produces opium. They are deployed in Iraq fighting all sorts of people: from Al Qaeda Islamist militants, to remnants of the Baath Party, and just about with any one who feels like taking on American soldiers on that given day.
And third, America is fighting a war on terrorism. Does that make America any safer? Or does it make the rest of the world safer? The administration likes to point out that there have not been any terrorist attacks in the United States since 9/11. Try telling the people of Bali, Istanbul, Madrid, London, Taba, Amman, Baghdad, or Beirut that they are truly safer today and see what happens. Chances are your comments will be received with the same warmth accorded British Prime Minister Tony Blair during his surprise visit to Beirut on the anniversary of 9/11.
One certainty is that United States foreign policy has not made America safer. By engaging in a war in Iraq the United States has unintentionally forced the release of hordes of anti-US forces from Morocco to Indonesia. America's invasion of Iraq has helped garner hundreds of thousands of fighters who are opposed to the US' intervention in Iraq. By dispatching 130,000 US troops to the Middle East, Washington has in fact placed those servicemen and women within easy reach of the Islamist terrorists. In fact they don't even need to come to the United States to kill Americans, they have them over there.
Again, Bush is correct when he says: "Whatever mistakes have been made in Iraq, the worst mistake would be to think that if we pulled out, the terrorists would leave us alone. They will not leave us alone. They will follow us. The safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad." While this statement is true today, it certainly was not the case before the US invasion in 2003.
Bush managed once again to tie-in the war in Iraq with the war on terrorism.
Sure, Saddam was a madman, a tyrant, a despot who killed his own people by the hundreds of thousands - Kurds, Shiites - and even members of his own family, if he as much suspected a hint of disloyalty. Again, no one is shedding tears over his departure from power, little matter the manner in which he left office.
The fact of the matter is that the world is a far less safe place today. To be fair, the fault is not entirely that of the bush administration's. Many leaders in the Arab world carry their fair share of blame.
Saudi Arabia, for example, for decades encouraged fundamentalists, promoting their madrassas, paying protection money of sort, to keep terrorists operating outside the Kingdom - hit anyone else except leave desert kingdom alone - until it backfired and Al Qaeda decided to take on the kingdom and the royal family. Saudi Arabia began to feel unsafe and started its own war on terrorism. Bush spoke of the people of the Middle East yearning to leave the desert of despotism for the fertile gardens of liberty. But when the people of the Palestinian territories adopted the democratic process and democratically elected Yasser Arafat, and later Hamas, neither Bush nor the Israelis found it to their liking, or to their level of democracy.
What the Palestinians thought was their "fertile gardens of liberty" was not good enough. It was not American democracy.
What was meant to be a non-partisan speech turned out to be a very one-sided tirade with George W. Bush once again attempting to tie-in the link between the tragedy of 9/11 and the unpopular war in Iraq.
Claude Salhani is Editor of the Middle East Times. He may be contacted at claude@metimes.com.
Letter from the Editor
TOOLBAR
To add a comment,
Please log in:
Don't have an account?
Register now to comment on stories and stay up to date on important events and issues in the Middle East with our newsletter.