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CounterPunch
September
30, 2002
Bombs as
a Poor Chisel
Bush's
War Drive:
Fear, Distraction & Self-Adulation
by
NEVE GORDON
One better think twice before supporting Bush's
initiative to launch an attack on Iraq if only because war,
as Martin Luther King pointed out, is a poor chisel to carve
out tomorrows.
A good way to grasp the logic underlying
Bush's plan is by examining the intricate mechanisms his Administration
is using to shape public opinion, the most conspicuous of which
are distraction, fear, and self-adulation.
DISTRACTION. The Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro film Wag
the Dog was a comical expression of this strategy, which is
currently being put to use in ways more cynical than the movie
producers imagined.
Considering that Saddam Hussein's modus
operandi has not changed in the past few years, the urgency
with which the Bush administration is pushing the war against
Iraq at this particular moment in history requires an explanation.
Not surprisingly, the answer lies very close to home.
Bush's war cry succeeded in sidelining
widespread corporate  corruption, which made headlines
right before his combative designs were revealed. Enron, Worldcom
and the like are no longer under the limelight.
The call to arms has also been used to
suppress figures pointing to the rising number of poor Americans,
which reached 32.9 million, an increase of 1.3 million from
the year before. The Census Bureau's annual report on income
and poverty provided evidence that the weakening economy is
beginning to a have detrimental affect on large segments of
society, regardless of race, region and class. I, for one,
don't see CNN spending much time covering poverty and its threat
to American society.
Along the same lines, civil liberties,
worker's rights, and the environment have all been under attack
by this Administration, and only recently have citizen groups
managed to mobilize and fight back. What could be more effective
than a war to deflect mounting domestic criticism?
FEAR. In order to convince the public that the Iraqi
campaign is not simply being used to distract the public from
pressing issues at home, a real and present danger must be created.
Just two years before the Gulf War, President
Bush -- the father -- stood by without a murmur of protest as
Saddam Hussein massacred 100,000 Kurds. The relation to Iraq's
premier changed dramatically when he invaded Kuwait, thus threatening
U.S. interests in the Middle East, which come down to one thing:
access and control of oil. Overnight Hussein was transformed
from a Third World ally into an evil monster, a modern day Hitler.
It worked then, and it is working now.
We are currently being told that Hussein
is dangerous because he has access to weapons of mass destruction.
Considering, however, that most countries in the Middle East
possess chemical weapons, including Israel, Egypt, Syria and
probably Saudi Arabia, the "preemptive" elimination
of Iraq's weapons program is, to say the least, peculiar. It's
really about whose a friend and whose a foe, not about weapons.
The Administration is not taking any
risks, however, and recently decided to spread its eggs among
a few baskets. Suddenly Saddam Hussein is not merely a recalcitrant
tyrant who has weapons of mass destruction, but, in Bush's words,
a man who hates America, loves to link up with Al Qaeda, and
is a true threat to America.
Ironically, Israel's Chief of Staff Moshe
Ya'alon, who is not known for his dovish opinions, recently
averred, "Iraq's capabilities are shallow compared to what
they were in the Gulf War. They are not capabilities that give
me sleepless nights."
If Israel isn't worried, why, one might
ask, is Bush?
SELF-ADULATION. The Bush Administration justifies its actions
by engendering a sense that Uncle Sam not only knows better,
but is also more responsible and righteous than any other country.
This tactic produces a certain type of patriotism used to avert
all forms of criticism, as can be seen by how the Administration's
seemingly omnipresent knowledge and moral high ground is employed
to counter the claims made by an overwhelming number of countries
that adamantly reject Bush's war plans.
Just envision the good that could be
done if an extra 100 or 200 billion dollars -- the war's estimated
cost! -- were allocated to education, training programs and
creating new jobs. The public education system would receive
a vital injection and millions of people could finally exit
the vicious cycle of poverty and deprivation. Wouldn't that
be a more worthy endeavor than the one Bush is pursuing?
"To be a patriot," Mark Twain
once wrote, "one had to say, and keep on saying, 'Our country,
right or wrong,' and urge on the little war." And then
Twain added, "Have you not perceived that that phrase is
an insult to the nation?"
Neve Gordon
teaches politics at Ben-Gurion University, Israel and can be
reached at ngordon@bgumail.bgu.ac.il.
Some of his articles recently appeared in The
Other Israel: Voices of Refusal and Dissent edited by Roane
Carey and Jonathan Shainin (The New Press 2002).
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September
21 / 22, 2002
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Tom Gorman
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