The blind and the deaf
By
Salama A Salama
It appears not to have been enough for the neo-cons to hijack US policy and tarnish the image of the US. Nor have they been content with transforming the US from a superpower that once defended peace, believed in the freedom of nations and in human rights and international justice into one bent on using its military might to resolve disputes through pre- emptive measures, in the process becoming a force for repression and the subversion of international justice. The neo-cons are now intent on discrediting moderates within the US Department of State. People who opposed the war against Iraq and advised Bush to consult with the UN, respect international law, and cooperate with Washington's European allies are now in their sights.
The Zionist-backed neo- cons are trying to persuade US public opinion, ahead of the presidential elections, that unless the US pursues a policy of force it will be unable to contain terror, or prevent weapons of mass destruction from falling in terrorist hands.
Richard Perle is a member of a consultative agency in the Pentagon and one of the advocates of the policy of pre-emptive strikes, along with Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Wolfowitz. Perle is spearheading the campaign to defend President Bush against the criticisms of his policies in Iraq and the Middle East increasingly being made by Democrats. The US needs "pragmatic" policies, insist the neo-cons, not the soft approach of Colin Powell, Richard Armitage, Anthony Zinni, and Brent Scowcroft.
In the recently published An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror? as well as in articles and television appearances Perle argues that the US should continue to pursue the same tough policies that have paid off in Iraq and Libya and halted Iran's nuclear ambitions. They must force democracy on Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria, countries he brands as dictatorial. And as for rogue European countries that challenge US attitude, well they should be either ignored or, if necessary, punished.
Perle and co-author David Frum, both members of the right-wing organisation American Enterprise, represent a conservative and reactionary current in US politics. Among their fellow travellers are Vice-President Cheney and a powerful wing of the Republican Party. It is this wing that has apparently succeeded in controlling Bush's thinking and approach and which is now throwing its weight behind his reelection campaign.
In The Price of Loyalty, by journalist Ron Suskind, former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neil provides a different point of view. O'Neil describes President Bush at National Security Council meetings as "a blind man in a room full of deaf people". Since his first days in office, O'Neil says, President Bush had been seeking a reason to wage war on Iraq. Bush told the members of the NSC to "go find me a way to do this". Events of 11 September provided the pretext the hawks had been waiting for. This is a picture that could not contrast more with the image of Bush as a pious man devoted to peace, a man who, his propagandist s claim, was forced by events into a global fight against the forces of evil.
