Kermit Snelson on Fri, 22 Feb 2002 01:35:59 +0100 (CET) |
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<nettime> The Way Bush Sees the World |
The Way Bush Sees the World by Steven Mufson The Washington Post 17 February 2002 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19626-2002Feb16.html [...] One of those threats has since become a reality, and Kaplan's writing helps explain Bush's response. In an article published this fall in the National Interest, written before the terrorist attacks, Kaplan predicted that international law would play a smaller role in conflicts as wars became increasingly unconventional and undeclared. He argued that in facing adversaries unconcerned with civilian casualties, "our moral values ... represent our worst vulnerabilities." Democratic consultation, he said, would become impractical in situations that called for quick responses to outrages. Is there a better description of the situation the Bush administration found itself in after the attacks? Terrorists had taken advantage of America's free society to infiltrate it and do it monstrous harm. And, perhaps to their surprise, the administration's swift military response showed moderate concern but not undue anxiety about civilian casualties, international law, or consultation with Congress. Instead, Bush gave his defense secretary and CIA director broad freedom to do whatever was necessary in the campaign in Afghanistan to "smoke 'em out." [...] In a black-or-white world, a war on terrorism becomes a war of morality. The consequences of such a war -- civilian casualties, pacts with repressive regimes such as the one in Uzbekistan, prisoners in a legal limbo -- can be seen as necessary byproduct of this moral mission. And if that makes some of us uncomfortable, Bush would say that the greater goal is to drive the barbarians away from the gates of the civilized world, and the United States in particular. In this context, a war on evil can become a war without end. In turning to the "axis of evil," Bush is targeting something broader than terrorism in the traditional sense. Of the three countries that Bush has included in his axis, two -- Iraq and North Korea -- have shown little involvement with terrorism in recent years. The definition of our foe has been broadened, so that evil can mean an irrational actor such as Osama bin Laden as well as North Korea's scary but arguably rational leader Kim Jong Il. Iran's modern, if somewhat democratic, society is lumped together with the North Korean hermit state. What are the politics of an endless war on evil? George W. Bush has always fancied himself a better politician than his father. And while national security issues are undoubtedly foremost in his mind, the political dimensions must be calculated somewhere in the White House. Perhaps whoever is doing that is thinking that the mistake Bush's father made was to end the Persian Gulf War too early. Not a week or two early, as some critics allege, but two years early. Maybe Bush senior never should have declared victory at all. Many Republicans criticized the Clinton administration for entering peacekeeping operations without having an exit strategy. It's ironic, perhaps, that this administration seems to be waging war without any exit strategy other than moving to the next battlefield. The war could become, as in the Orwell novel "1984," a permanent state of being. "War is Peace," the Ministry of Truth slogan read in the novel. Or, as Kaplan has argued, war becomes a condition no longer distinctly separate from peace. Bush has embraced that view, at least for now. As he declared in his State of Union address, "I will not wait on events, while dangers gather." He has seen a grim landscape, to paraphrase Kaplan, and seems determined to confront it. Oracle of a New World Disorder By Ken Ringle The Washington Post 21 February 2002 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42566-2002Feb20.html While Washington is filled with journalists seeking information from the military, the military seeks information from Kaplan. He has spoken at Fort Leavenworth, Fort Pendleton and Fort Bragg. Next month he briefs the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and last week he was in Bulgaria addressing that country's parliament. © 2002 The Washington Post Company # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net