On Tues., Sept. 23, American President George W. Bush entered the United Nations to ask for help in reconstructing Iraq. In his speech to the General Assembly he spoke of what had been accomplished by the mission. Amazingly he said, “nations are more secure because an ally of terror has fallen.”
I call it amazing because I thought the Bush Administration was finished with the fantasy of an Iraqi-Terrorist connection threatening the United States. The terrorists who hate the United States also hated the Iraqi dictator because he was secular, it’s that simple. After all they have no use for it now that Iraq has fallen.
He went on to suggest he had defended the credibility of the United Nations. This is quite the suggestion. How were the multilateral principles of the UN upheld by what was essentially unilateral action? Let us face the fact that most of the coalition of the willing entered to gain political favor with the world’s only superpower.
He used the legal argument that he was upholding the resolutions put forward by the UN. If one respected the UN enough to want to hold up its resolutions, wouldn’t one also accept United Nations decisions on enforcement of their resolutions? The insincerity and cynicism of this argument is nauseating.
Another one of the goals apparently accomplished by the mission was ensuring American security against weapons of mass destruction. Bush is obviously not without nerve; the idea that Iraq had massive stockpiles of WMD must be dispelled by now.
His insistence on bringing the weak arguments raised as the United States entered the war is a sign of dogma. We must expect dogmatism from a man who is guided by faith over reason, whose moral compass is without fault, who knows the difference between good and evil, between right and wrong, with such certainty. The all or nothing attitude is the attitude of the dogmatist; he said either you’re with us or you’re against us, there is no middle ground.
Let us believe there is a middle ground. Let us believe that right and wrong are never as certain as we wish them to be. Let us be critical of our own thinking. Let us, the Canadian people, join in the reconstruction of Iraq.
As despicable as the action to take Iraq started, good can come out of it. Although the world was lied to, it must also join in the reconstruction. If Iraq should teeter out of control the ensuing disaster would be on par with Yugoslavia. For as many dogmatists as there are in the United States government, there a thousands more Iraqi dogmatists who would fight for control of the country.
Let Bush and his cabal take the credit. Let them believe in their own righteousness, not for their sake, but for the sake of the people of Iraq who have a chance at changing their region. The people have a chance at starting from scratch and building freedom one step at a time.
This means delaying the democratic urge. Democracy at this point would be a step backwards. The bitterness of the Baathist age lingers, and civil war would be the only product of democracy.
The first step of building a truly free society is to institute a free market economy with laws to protect contract. Utmost attention must also be paid to protecting security of the person. People must feel safe, they must feel able to control their own destiny and, most of all, they need to realize their success does not necessarily depend upon the failure of others.
Let us help the people achieve a free and democratic society. Let Bush think he has done what is right, and let history tell the truth.