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The Union of the State
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The Union of the State
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by Laurie King
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It's time again for an annual political ceremony full of formal flair, rhetoric, and ritual: The State of the Union speech. This event is Washington officialdom's theatre, complete with roles, entrances and exits and a script. President George W. Bush's seventh State of the Union speech, however, approaches the theatre of the absurd. Even previously jingoistic television stations like CNN have given up hope on the Bush administration. Those who watch television news just once a week cannot escape the alarming reality: domestically and internationally, the State of the Union is in very dire straits.
This year, President Bush faced a new Congress reflective of changing opinions and perspectives across the United States. Democrats now control both houses of Congress. Most new legislators owe their seats to widespread and growing public dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq and the excesses of this administration's "war on terror." Millions of dollars and dozens of lives - American and Iraqi - disappear into the maw of the Iraq war every week. Even Americans who do not have family members serving their third or fourth tours in Iraq know that this is an unsustainable disaster.
Despite the renewed and resurgent participation of Americans in democracy, as witnessed by last November's elections and the consequent shift to Democratic control of Congress, the Bush administration persists in thinking and acting as if it has the legitimacy, skill, knowledge, and right to do whatever it pleases in Iraq and the wider Middle East. Although the Iraq Study Group Report called for a more sane and balanced US foreign policy in the Middle East, the draw-down of US military forces, and a more just and sensible approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Bush Administration blindly persists in its failed policies. Although it is not clear where the President Bush will find the funds and bodies to shore up his proposed escalation of the war in Iraq, and although respected military leaders have voiced concerns and critiques publicly, we are on the verge of not only expanding US efforts in Iraq, but perhaps on the edge of engaging Iran militarily as well. This scenario does not accord with the will of the people.
The good news is that nearly 70 percent of the American public knows something is wrong. More Americans are paying more attention to their government's engagements abroad and asking critical questions. Americans' concerns and attention may be too little too late, but increased public awareness, commentary, debate, and involvement means that the Union of the State is increasing and strengthening.
But what is it that unifies the United States? By the end of President Bush's State of the Union address, it was clear that the unifying force upon which this administration continues to depend is fear - of terrorists and purveyors of evil who wish to harm or destroy our civilization. The attempt to scare Americans back into line, and into silence, was palpable in the President's invocations of the horrors of September 11th and his dire warnings that more horrors await us if the US withdraws from Iraq and leaves it to the terrorists.
Should we be terrorized by such discourses into accepting the views and interests of a small group of men, led by President Bush and Vice President Cheney? Should we leave life and death decisions about war and peace to people who have never been in a combat zone, who have shredded the Geneva Conventions and undermined international and multi-lateral frameworks of peace keeping and diplomacy while filling the coffers of corporations and special interest groups?
The United States was founded to be a state of laws, not of men. Bush and those closest to him have moved America far from this ideal. They have done so by deceiving the public, passing laws that undermine the values of a great democracy and a just society, and dampening debate and accurate media coverage by equating criticism of the administration with a lack of patriotism or a dearth of resolve in facing the dangerous terrorists, all of whom, it seems, live in the Middle East.
Americans on many points of the political spectrum have begun to question this vision of the world and America's role in it. We the people are increasingly aware that we will not bring democracy to the Middle East by dismantling it at home, and that we cannot spend countless millions of dollars rebuilding Baghdad while New Orleans still lies in ruins. We cannot have a just society with a growing gap between the very rich and the very poor.
The State of our Union is not good. The Union of our State requires clear thinking, courageous decisions, and humility in the face of mistakes that have destroyed the lives of thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis. The new members of Congress, as well as the people who voted for them, should resist the easy escape of uniting Americans on the basis of fear, blind pride, ignorance and intolerance. The State of our Union can be strengthened and renewed only with clear thinking, sane policies, mature behavior, and a return to the rule of law at home and abroad. We the people can do this. We must do it: President Bush has amply demonstrated that he cannot.
Laurie King is a co-founder of Electronic Iraq. A social anthropologist, she is former editor of Middle East Report and the author of numerous articles on human rights and international humanitarian law.
© 2003-2007 Electronic Iraq/electronicIraq.net
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