Consumers Domain
World welcomes US election results
"You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war."
--Albert Einstein
One latest event that has a significant global impact is the recently concluded mid-term elections in the US. The results of the elections is a pleasant development as the world continue to spiral deep down the trench of war and violence.
Bush and the Republicans lost the control of both the Senate and the Lower House. After 12 years, the Democrats regained control of Congress. This elections was practically a referendum on the foreign policy of Bush and his party. In particular this is a rejection by the Americans of the US-instigated war in Iraq.
Though long overdue, this is a welcome event as it is a wake up call to Bush and his spin doctors that they cannot fool the people (their own people) all the time. In the 2004 US presidential elections, the Republicans played up the atmosphere of fear sparked by 9-11. Bush was re-elected by a small margin.
Bush and the Republicans argued the correctness of their "preemptive strike" doctrine to protect "the American way of life". They have exaggerated the threat of terrorism to support their desire to pull the trigger and unleash the bombs of war.
More than four thousand people perished in 9-11 and the world sympathized. However, Bush, the cowboy, wanted revenge. "It's either you are with us or against us," the arrogant Bush declared.
With the absence of credible intelligence information pinpointing Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction, the Bush administration manufactured intelligence to suit their ends. Despite the nonexistent proof to establish connection between Al-Qaeda and the regime of Saddam Hussein, they pushed on with their war.
Despite the knowledge that such a war would entail big civilian casualties, they pushed on with their unfounded war -- as if American lives are more valuable than the lives of other human beings.
Though rejected by people worldwide, the US so called "War on Terror" has gained the support of other warmonger politicians including the Philippine president (who is actually a different breed of terrorist herself).
Gloria Arroyo is inspired by the US' "War on Terror" that she conducts her own little war in the country. The problem is she lumps up all opposition particularly the Left and labels them terrorists and enemies of state -- to temper her administration's human rights violations.
Now after all the wars were waged and the cowboy policy still being pursued, the world is not a safer place, for Americans and for the rest of us. The threat of terrorism has not diminished. On the contrary hatred for the US grew and the support for the radical terrorist militants became stronger especially among the victims of US atrocities. That is a clear lesson that must be heeded by Bush and all the world's leaders.
Related to the resounding defeat of the Republicans is Bush's declaration the day after the election of the resignation of US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, the chief architect of the Iraq war.
The shift in power in the US Congress and Rumsfeld's resignation may not instantly mean a resolution of the Iraq crisis. These events will surely not make the world a safer place right away. The Democrats, who favor a rethinking of the policies in Iraq, may not have an answer to halt the spiraling violence and war.
What these events provide is simply an opportunity for change. That is after all what is needed now.
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