Iraq and the War on Terror
The arrest of the man recently in Turkey carrying uranium also plays into Bush’s hands in his effort to move towards an attack on Iraq. Again, nothing shows a link to Iraq in this episode, but the administration selects its words carefully in their attempt to persuade us.
Bush continually downplayed peace efforts, speaking throughout the country as he raised money for Republicans during the midterm election. This included the visit to Iraq by Congressmen McDermott and Bonier. Bush and his supporters play them off as anti-American for making the trip. In fact, this administration calls anything anti-American that does not unequivocally support them.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has been acting more like a Secretary of State for quite some time now. And just where is the real Secretary of State and what is he doing? A secretary of state is usually an administration’s lead on foreign affairs, including during wartime. This was no different during the Gulf War, under the previous Bush Administration. Secretary of State Colin Powell, on the other hand, is not always in step with the direction of this administration. He has urged repeatedly that the United States should not go it alone in an attack on Iraq. Should the president listen to Powell? The rest of the world is more in line with Powell’s view. Powell may be showing signs of frustration with this Bush Administration as he has recently indicated that he would not serve a second term as head of the state department.
After finally feeling the heat, Bush caved to the pressure of those here and around the world that want to confront Saddam as a unified force. Bush has now used the United Nations, an organization he loathes. In fact, Bush did not even have an ambassador appointed to the UN for a long time into his term.
Bush doesn’t really want a peaceful resolution, but may now have to face peace if Saddam complies with the current UN resolution. All of Bush’s actions and statements before he went to the UN pointed to war. A member of congress (McDermott) has stated that Bush would mislead the American people to get what he wants. Has he misled us already? Is America willing to blindly follow Bush into war? The Pew Center's latest poll shows that 64 percent of the American people favor military action against Iraq, but that withers to only 33 percent
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