If you were to plan out Barack Obama’s first few moves for him, rolling back the excesses of the Bush years would be the obvious moves. The closure of Guantanamo and other torture sites is welcome, as his statement that the choice between safety and values that we’ve been presented with by Bush, Blair and others over the last few years is a false one.
In future, tougher decisions face him. He must give real hope to the Palestinians, and pressure Israel to withdraw to 1967 borders. When Bush arrived in office eight years ago, it was just after Ariel Sharon had kicked off the second intifada. In the following years, a succession of Israeli conditions have been met including the cessation of suicide bombings and the replacement of Yasser Arafat. There are another set of Israeli demands now before they say they’ll do anything. Very little is ever asked of the Israelis though. The hands-off policy of the Bush administration led to the bloodbath seen in Gaza over the last few weeks.
It was Bush’s farewell speech that capped it all off though. Citing that there hadn’t been any attacks on US soil since 9/11 he crowed that he had kept the US safe since then – crassly ignoring the hit his allies took in Madrid, London and many other places. Spain decided that joining Bush’s war in Iraq had put them in the front line of terror.
The ‘war on terror’ only served to escalate hostilities. It hasn’t made anyone any safer - quite the opposite. Al-Qaeda meanwhile have been at it even longer than Bush, and have similarly ended up further away from their stated objectives. Their declaration of war on the US cited the grievances of US troops in the Middle East, US support for Israel, and for dictators in the Muslim world. All three of these indicators have become worse since 9/11. Their actions gave the neocons the pretext they needed to launch devastating wars, killing hundreds of thousands of people in the process.
George Bush has exited stage right. I hope Al-Qaeda do likewise. There is the chance of a fresh chapter, but it needs space, time and calm. As President Obama said at his inauguration:
“To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.”
I hope so. The last thing we need at this moment is a terrorist spectacular that would kill off any chances of this. The only way we’re going to bring justice to the world scene is through the political process, and the strength of our argument and endeavour within it. It was always thus, and so many of us have always said it. After so many lives and years lost, now it could be our time.
Great to have you back RuT!
Posted by: joe90 kane | 24 January 2009 at 11:00 AM
Great to hear from you too Joe!
Posted by: Osama | 25 January 2009 at 05:45 PM
The reality is Osama, the neo-cons have not left at all. Obama's stance, according to Chomksy, is that it is no different to that of Bush and will not be. The wool over your eyes people.
Posted by: Ahmad | 25 January 2009 at 08:27 PM