By Claire Parsons
Stop the ruse and get real
Election Day was last week. Now is the time when the political promises are supposed to stop and the gloves are supposed to come off. The promises of bipartisan cooperation have been made, and they will soon be broken. All the pretenses of the past few months that inevitably come with campaigns are falling by the wayside. All except those of one man: President George W. Bush.
President Bush proved yet again that he is unable to admit his true motives in leading our country to war with Iraq. Following the U.N. resolution concerning Iraq, Bush made a statement of over a thousand words in which he said absolutely nothing new. He merely reiterated the same old line we have been hearing since his inauguration. The only difference seems to be that he is not trying to conceal his hypocrisy; rather, he has grown arrogant in it and expects us all to go along with it. In his statement, Bush not only tells us that patriotic Americans ought to follow his lead, but that patriotic Iraqis should as well.
In his speech, President Bush attempted to portray the United States as merely acting in self defense. At the same time, Bush set up a double standard for America’s and Iraq’s dealings with the United Nations. The U.N. resolution says that it will only resort to military action if Iraq does not fully comply. Bush said that this was a good start, but has reserved America’s right to act independently if we do not believe Iraq is really cooperating. In essence, Bush is giving Iraq no margin for error, while allowing himself a mile of political wiggling room. Bush wants war with Iraq. He is not simply getting involved because he wants to get rid of their weapons of mass destruction. Bush wants to get rid of Saddam Hussein. He has already boasted that he will remove Hussein from power within the next ten years. Why is he now changing his motive to protecting us from the threat of nuclear weapons?
Perhaps Bush is beginning to realize that attacking a country that produces a vast quantity of an essential commodity and toppling its government seems highly suspect. President Bush needs legitimacy for his cause more than anything else. Since the Republicans have gained control of Congress, Bush has the political homogeny he needs to push a war through the legislature. He always had the military capabilities to defeat Iraq; all he needs now is the consent of the American public. Bush knows that he cannot force us to consent. Our consent must be freely given, or it means nothing. However, in his speech, Bush assumed that all Americans were happy with the U.N. resolution. I don’t honestly believe that even Bush is that deluded. Instead, I think his statement is more of a bugle call telling those who dissent to finally join the bandwagon and support the war with Iraq.
Make no mistake; Saddam Hussein is a bad leader. He has committed atrocities in his country that we are lucky to know few details about. However, our president is not being honest with us. He knows our true reasons for interfering in Iraq and knows that admitting his desire to set up a pro-American Iraqi government would cost his campaign the moral upper hand. The moral upper hand is the backbone of Bush’s plans against Iraq. Ironically, Bush has to resort to sneaky underhandedness to pull it off. He has to doublespeak and, in some cases, lie through his teeth. Bush has to accuse Hussein of playing games with his people and the U.N. while simultaneously doing the same himself. As a citizen of this country, I sincerely wish that our president would stop the ruse and get real. But politics, especially world politics, are all a ruse that will survive, whether anyone believes it or not.
