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AND WE ARE COMING FOR YOUR COUNTRY NEXT!
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<anonymous@remailer.hastio.org> wrote in message
news:I2M9IYGB38016.0424884259@anonymous.poster...
Fundamentalism has spawned an ideology of American supremacy

George Soros January 26, 2004 he Guardian

The invasion of Iraq was the first practical application of the pernicious
Bush doctrine of pre-emptive military action, and it elicited an allergic
reaction worldwide - not because anyone had a good word to say about Saddam
Hussein, but because we insisted on invading Iraq unilaterally without any
clear evidence that he had anything to do with September 11 or that he
possessed weapons of mass destruction.

The gap in perceptions between America and the rest of the world has never
been wider. Abroad, America is seen as abusing the dominant position it
occupies; opinion at home has been led to believe that Saddam posed a clear
and present danger to national security. Only in the aftermath of the Iraqi
invasion are people becoming aware they have been misled.

Even today, many people believe that September 11 justifies behaviour that
would be unacceptable in normal times. The ideologues of American supremacy
and President Bush personally never cease to remind us that September 11
changed the world. It is only as the untoward consequences of the invasion
of Iraq become apparent that people are beginning to realise something has
gone woefully wrong.

We have fallen into a trap. The suicide bombers' motivation seemed
incomprehensible at the time of the attack; now a light begins to dawn:
they wanted us to react the way we did. Perhaps they understood us better
than we understand ourselves.

And we have been deceived. When he stood for election in 2000, President
Bush promised a humble foreign policy. I contend that the Bush
administration has deliberately exploited September 11 to pursue policies
that the American public would not have otherwise tolerated. The US can
lose its dominance only as a result of its own mistakes. At present the
country is in the process of committing such mistakes because it is in the
hands of a group of extremists whose strong sense of mission is matched
only by their false sense of certitude.

This distorted view postulates that because we are stronger than others, we
must know better and we must have right on our side. That is where
religious fundamentalism comes together with market fundamentalism to form
the ideology of American supremacy.

We may have more difficulty in perceiving the absurdity of pursuing
supremacy by military means, because we have learned to rely on military
power and we particularly feel the need for it when our very existence is
threatened. But the most powerful country on earth cannot afford to be
consumed by fear. To make the war on terrorism the centrepiece of our
national strategy is an abdication of our responsibility as the leading
nation in the world. The US is the only country that can take the lead in
addressing problems that require collective action: preserving peace and
economic progress, protecting the environment and so on.

Whatever the justification for removing Saddam, there can be no doubt that
we invaded Iraq on false pretenses. Wittingly or unwittingly, President
Bush deceived the American public and Congress and rode roughshod over our
allies' opinions.

The gap between the administration's expectations and the actual state of
affairs could not be wider. We have put at risk not only our soldiers'
lives but the combat readiness of our armed forces. We are overstretched
and our ability to project our power has been compromised. Yet there are
more places where we need to project our power than ever. North Korea is
openly building nuclear weapons; Iran is doing so clandestinely. The
Taliban is regrouping in the Pashtun areas of Afghanistan. The costs of
occupation and the prospect of permanent war weigh on our economy, and we
are failing to address festering problems both at home and globally. If we
ever needed proof that the neo-cons' dream of American supremacy is
misconceived, Iraq has provided it.

It is hard to imagine how the plans of the defence department could have
gone more awry. We find ourselves in a quagmire that is in some ways
reminiscent of Vietnam. Having invaded Iraq, we cannot extricate ourselves.
Domestic pressure to withdraw is likely to build, as in the Vietnam war,
but withdrawing would inflict irreparable damage on our standing in the
world. In this respect, Iraq is worse than Vietnam because of our
dependence on Middle East oil.

Nobody forced us into it; on the contrary, everyone warned us against it.
Admittedly, Saddam was a heinous tyrant and it was a good thing to get rid
of him. But at what cost? The occupying powers serve as a focal point for
attracting terrorists and radicalising Islam. Our soldiers have to do
police work in full combat gear.

And the cost of occupation is estimated at a staggering $160bn for the the
fiscal years 2003-2004 - $73bn for 2003 and $87bn in a supplemental request
for 2004 submitted at the last minute in September 2003. Of the $87bn, only
$20bn is for reconstruction, but the total cost of reconstruction is
estimated at $60bn. For comparison, our foreign aid budget for 2002 was
$10bn.

There is no easy way out. The Bush administration is eager to get the
United Nations more involved but is unwilling to make the necessary
concessions. We have no alternative to sticking it out and paying the price
for our mistake. Eventually a different president with a different attitude
to international cooperation may be more successful in extricating us.

The US is not the only country at the centre of the global capitalist
system, but it is the most powerful and it is the main driving force behind
globalisation. The European Union may equal the US in population and gross
national product, but it is far less united and far less comfortable with
globalisation. In military terms, the EU does not even qualify as a power,
because members make their own decisions.

Insofar as any nation is in charge of the world order, it is the US. That
is not to suggest that other countries are exempt from having to concern
themselves with the wellbeing of the world. Their attitudes are not without
consequence, but it is the US that matters most.

If Bush is rejected in 2004, his policies can be written off as an
aberration and America resume its rightful place in the world. But if he is
re-elected, the electorate will have endorsed his policies and we will have
to live with the consequences. But it isn't enough to defeat Bush at the
polls. The US must examine its global role and adopt a more constructive
vision. We cannot merely pursue narrow, national self-interest. Our
dominant position imposes a unique responsibility.

� George Soros 2004

This is an edited extract from The Bubble of American Supremacy, by George
Soros, published on Thursday by Weidenfeld & Nicolson at �12.99. To order a
copy for �10.99 plus p&p, call the Guardian book service on 0870 066 7979

Guardian Unlimited � Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004





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