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CounterPunch
September
6, 2002
Bush's Wars
Undermine Democracy
by Neve Gordon
I am against the war, the (perpetual) war on terrorism
as well as the war against Iraq. I am against empire, the control
of nearly 40 percent of the world's resources secured by the
deployment of air, naval, and ground forces in over 800 bases
across the globe. And I am against deception; the claim that
United States foreign policy is aimed at ensuring freedom, justice
and democracy around the world, when in fact its overseas agenda
is driven by corporate greed, power and domination.
With the Bush administration determined
-- rhetoric aside -- to oust Saddam Hussein and gain control
of oil resources in Iraq, in what will most likely become an
extremely bloody conquest, and the democratic party rambling
along without even a murmur of protest, it is high time that
ordinary citizens speak out clearly and stridently against Bush's
insane imperialistic aspirations.
My claim is straightforward: in the name
of fighting terrorism and spreading democracy around the globe
-- which is outright propaganda considering the embrace of Pakistan's
new dictator -- the Bush administration is undermining democratic
processes and institutions within the United States. Put differently,
Bush is exploiting both grief and fear to ruin the very essence
of democratic life.
Let's look at the facts. In order to
fund his wars, Bush is insisting on a $48 billion increase to
the current $335 billion military budget, thus designating 53
percent of government spending on the military budget, which
is already over twenty-three times the combined military spending
of countries identified by the Pentagon as likely adversaries:
Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.
Meanwhile, only 9 percent of the budget
will go towards education and social services, and 6 percent
to health. All this at a time when almost 17 percent of children
in the U.S. live in poverty, 44 million people have no health
insurance, and 85 percent of public schools need repair. Incidentally,
the cost of one B-2 Bomber would be enough to repair over 1,000
aging school buildings.
The intolerance towards the plight of
the poor is accompanied by a rapid increase in the authoritarian
elements of state power. Not enough can be said on the ongoing
attack on civil liberties, which began when the USA Patriot Act
anti-terror bill was passed in October of last year. Due process
has been suspended in many areas of the criminal justice system,
including the right to speedy trial, freedom from arbitrary police
searches, prohibition against indefinite incarceration and incognito
detentions. Surveillance authority has also been widely broadened,
whether through wiretapping or through the federal government's
sweeping new powers to investigate electronic communications,
personal and financial records, computer hard drives and other
individual documents.
In order to justify its foreign policy
goals, the administration has been demonizing all perceived enemies
and in this way has helped awaken local xenophobic tendencies.
Not surprisingly, this jingoistic tactic has had far reaching
ramifications for Arabs and Muslims inside the U.S. as well.
Bush's Manichean worldview alongside
his attack on civil liberties and utter lack of compassion towards
the poor is done in the name of some distorted notion of patriotism.
Anyone who so much as questions the rationality of the policies
is immediately shut up and ostracized. All of which amounts to
a drastic diminution of what political philosopher Hannah Arendt
called the public sphere.
Democracy is, after all, dependent on
a plurality of views, on the opportunity of people to express
their opinions, debate issues, and persuade each other. Without
a decent education, access to health, basic civil liberties and
an atmosphere of tolerance towards the other, the public sphere
-- which is necessary in order to express one's views -- shrinks.
Accordingly, I am against the war not
only because it will help Bush underwrite the most egregious
acts of violence, which will only increase hatred towards the
U.S. and international terrorism, but also because Bush's wars
undercut basic democratic practices inside the U.S. One year
after the hideous terrorist attacks, U.S. democracy is under
assault. The enemy, though, is not Osama Bin Laden or Saddam
Hussein; the enemy is within.
Neve Gordon
teaches politics at Ben-Gurion University, Israel, and can be
reached at ngordon@bgumail.bgu.ac.il
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September
6, 2002
Jeffrey St.
Clair
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