Universal soldier for truth
[W]hen George Bush … begins to exploit and manipulate the September 11 tragedy for political advantage, alarm bells must ring out loud. Yet this is exactly what Mr Bush’s first state of the union address unabashedly set out to do. All US policy, both international and domestic, is now framed in terms of last autumn’s emergency; all measures, however partisan and divisive, are justified in the name of patriotic unity and solidarity; all misgiving and dissent must be overridden for the sake of America’s “just cause”. Mr Bush, in his black-and-white way, has clearly convinced himself that in what he calls the “decisive decade in the history of liberty”, his duty, mission and calling is to direct the triumph of good over evil at home and abroad …
This is a premise fortified by falsehoods and underpinned by a delusion. The principal falsehood is that the policies Mr Bush now advocates are dictated by an ongoing terrorist menace. They are not. Primarily they are the products of conservative Republicanism, set dangerously loose in September 11’s aftermath …
September 11 undoubtedly bound the American nation. But it did not blind it. Sooner or later, Mr Bush, self-styled universal soldier for truth, will have to stop pretending that tragedy gave him a free hand to remake America and the world to fit his simplistic, narrow vision - or risk having voters and US allies end the pretence for him.
- Lead article, The Guardian, 31 January 2002
Email subscription
