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On His Nice Big Presidential Projection TV, President Bush Lectures U.S. Soldiers About Why Their Mission is Good, Then Let's Them Agree With Him.

—C-SPAN VIDEO: President Bush Holds Satellite Conference with 11 Soldiers From a New York National Guard Unit in Iraq, October 13, 00:15:23

By Ghulam Asghar Khan

October 13, 2005

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'Bush, the Superman' [Arab News, Saudi Arabia]

The Greek historian Plutarch wrote that Alexander wept when he heard Anaxarchus talk about the infinite number of worlds in the universe. One of Alexander's friends asked him what was the matter, and he replied: "There are so many worlds, and I have not yet conquered even one.”
President Bush's lament is that after three years of war in Iraq, he has not been able to subjugate a tiny helpless Arab country, despite being the sole superpower of the present era.

A crest-fallen superman with his ratings in the tank and desperately in need of a boost, he fell back last week on what had worked so successfully for him in the past: fostering fear and promoting war.

His oft-repeated speech about the War on Terrorism constituted a sobering showcase, both of his government's desperate political situation and the new threats that it will seek to extricate itself from the present crisis through yet more militarism.

His address to The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) was a recap of lies that have so often been delivered with the goal of terrorizing the American people and rallying his radical rightwing base. In remarks that at times bordered on delusion, Bush invoked the unlikely bogeyman of an al-Qaeda terrorist network poised to establish a radical Islamic empire that would reach from Spain to Indonesia.

He forgot to include [John] Howard's Australia, one of his 3 staunchest allies, a place quite proximate to volatile Indonesia. What was most notable about Bush's speech was his tacit admission that his so-called War on Terror was actually a war waged for imperial dominance.

Bush, like the reincarnated twelfth avatar of Vishnu, accused the terrorists of seeking the overthrow of moderate governments in the region and the creation of a radical Islamic empire from Spain to Indonesia.

[Editor's Note: In Hinduism, an Avatar of Vishnu is the bodily manifestation of the ultimate and supreme being, but there is little reference to a “twelfth” avatar of Vishnu.]

Is that not precisely what the U.S. has long sought to accomplish, both overtly through military force and covertly through groups like the National Endowment for Democracy? Doesn't the United States seek to establish a corporate-military empire that spans the globe?

In the 1980s, the NED was created by the Reagan Administration to conduct political propaganda and subversive operations abroad overtly, which prior to that were carried out by the CIA covertly. This was the same venue at which Bush proclaimed nearly two years ago a “forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East.”

Back then he insisted that by successfully imposing of democracy on Iraq, the country  would be the cornerstone for a global revolution if democracy that would topple “unfavorable regimes” throughout the region, with Syria and Iran topping the list.

The NED and the CIA: Working Together

The NED is a semi-private government-funded organization, and as can be gleaned from its stated goals, its interests and practices are anything but democratic. Its notion of democracy is limited to those countries friendly to American corporate interests.

If some unfortunate country isn't democratic enough according to the NED, it uses U.S. taxpayer money to subversively fund and instigate regime change. It is antithetical to the principles of democracy to interfere with and influence the election processes of other nations, as was done in Haiti and Venezuela. And it is particularly appalling when the goal is not so much to foster democracy as it is to further a U.S. strategy of hegemony.

In his Thursday address on Thursday, Bush preached to the converted his sermon of never-ending, self-perpetuating war. He advanced the opposite of the “domino theory,” warning that unless U.S. troops achieve unconditional victory, al-Qaeda leaders bin Laden and Zarqawi would take control of Iraq and further the spread of radical Islamist States.

'If you vote YES, use right box. If you vote NO, use left box [Derqaoui, Jordan].

This latest contention has no more credibility than the one Bush advanced in 2003. Rather, the administration's efforts to rely on fear to coerce Americans into submitting to its war-mongering policies shows the growing desperation of the U.S. ruling class over the debacle in Iraq.

The U.S. administration has once again let fly the ballad of terror that it utilized to pave the way to the invasion of Iraq, when it claimed that Saddam was developing weapons of mass destruction and preparing to give them to al-Qaeda terrorists.

As a follow up, on October 6, the authorities in New York issued a terrorist alert for the city's subway system, just hours after Bush's screed, just in time for the evening news and for the next day's scary headlines. Soon after the alert was announced, the intelligence agencies acknowledged that the threat was of doubtful credibility. But on Friday (Oct. 7), Penn Station shut down just because of a “suspicious” soda bottle.

The objective of such incredible alerts, like Bush's oration itself, is to instill fear, this keeping the public off-balance and suppressing growing political opposition and social unrest.

Opposition to the Bush Government has never been greater, with polls showing barely 37% of the population supporting the administration and majorities believing that the Iraq war was a blunder and that U.S. forces should be withdrawn. Washington was lying when it launched the war, and it is lying now, but under changed political conditions.

The New York Times quoted an unnamed White House official as saying that Bush had given his speech to remind Americans after “a lot of distractions” over recent months, that the country remains under threat and has no choice but to remain in Iraq; a well-tailored ambition but completely without foundation.

'Look, we're Not Leaving Before the Job is Done' [Arab News, Saudi Arabia].

It is utterly false to claim that the invasion of Iraq was ever necessary for protecting America's national security. In fact, all indications are that the glorious invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq have only managed to increase the threat of terrorism – and not only to the U.S., but the rest of the world. By occupying Iraq, the U.S. has managed to so radicalize the Arab and Muslim world, that many are ready to join the terrorist cause.

The Centre for Strategic and International Studies has in a recent report revealed that the occupation of an Arab nation by non-Arabs has converted hundreds of previously non-militant Saudis to Jihad and terrorism.

The Bush Administration has committed and continues to commit irrefutably undemocratic acts to establish and protect its hegemonic empire. How opportune and appropriate it was that Bush “celebrated” his Iraqi venture with a crowd of like-minded champions of democracy, who advocate its spread through means such as war, coups and illegal influence.

The American war in Iraq has nothing to do with democracy or terrorism; it is an attempt to re-colonize the region in order to seize control of its oil wealth and carry out its plans to extend U.S. imperialism.
In such a scenario, Iraq's instability (it is more like a civil war) would spread and infect an already unstable region. If the Gulf region were to further destabilize, so too would the global economy, as oil prices would skyrocketed, putting the U.S. and many others into recession.

Bush's dilemma is that a loss in Iraq would besmirch his war presidency. He would pass into the black pages of U.S. history as an ignominious president who failed miserably on both fronts; War and Peace.

VIDEO FROM THE MUSLIM WORLD: AL-ZARQAWI DECLARES 'TOTAL WAR' ON SHIITES

Psychopath Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi

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