Bush losing the battle

The war on terror is not a conventional war; and it won’t be won by conventional means. The way to defeat terrorism is through the very ideals of democracy and justice which it seeks to destroy.

Timothy McVeigh was tried, convicted and executed as a mass murderer for the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. He was afforded his full legal rights, in a public setting and the public came to see him for what he was: a common criminal who killed hundreds of innocent men, women and children. Justice was not only done, but seen to be done.

Contrast that with the treatment of alleged terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay. Deliberately held outside the jurisdiction of the continental United States and without legal representation, they are deprived of any hope of ever seeing the inside of an American courtroom. Tortured, by all reasonable definitions; their religious beliefs used to ridicule and humiliate them. Any future trial is to be conducted in secret, under rules which guarantee conviction, advertising to the world (the Muslim world in particular), that the United States is not the bastion of democracy and justice it purports to be.

As former Secretary of State Colin Powell told NBC’s Meet the Press, “I would do it (shut down Guantanamo) because, essentially we have shaken the belief that the world had in America’s justice system by keeping a place like Guantanamo open and creating things like the military commissions.” Every prisoner held under those conditions has supporters who become potential recruits to the terrorist cause. And, to complicate the issue further, the Bush administration simply ignores rulings from US Courts which call their tactics into question.

Iraq played no part in the atrocity known as 911. But, the Bush administration launched a war against that nation based on misrepresentation and lies. They used the war on terror as an excuse to implement their own agenda. Even Alan Greenspan, former head of the Treasury Board, acknowledges that the real reason for the war was oil.

Iraqis watch the lives of friends and family, including untold numbers of women and children, snuffed out by the American war machine; the Bush administration shrugs their shoulders and offers half-hearted apologies for the infliction of “collateral damage”.

Iraqi civilians have been dying by the tens of thousands. And, for every innocent who dies, there is a husband, a son or a brother who becomes a potential recruit for Bin Laden’s terrorist goon squads. The United States is feeding fuel to the fire, creating future generations of hate-filled terrorists who will use their murderous tactics against the people of the United States and every civilized country which supports them.

The outcome of the war against Iraq was foretold before it was fought; Iraq had no hope against the military might of the United States. But, the war against Iraq, when viewed as a single battle in the war on terror, has been lost. No one in the Arab world is likely to forget the death and devastation caused by an unnecessary war.

The actions of the Bush administration in waging war against Iraq and perpetuating the injustice of Guantanamo, greatly enhance the prospects of Bin laden and his cohorts to recruit new members to their fanatical cause.

For Iraq, the future is uncertain; for Bush, the only certainty is his declining poll numbers.