Bush's beliefs:
" he firmly believed that the United States is "the" beacon of freedom
in the world, and that he had a solemn responsibility to promote that
freedom "since doing so and protecting the American people go hand in
hand." Bush also told Woodward that it was very important for him to
understand the significance of his presidency. He was seizing the
opportunity provided by events to "achieve big goals" and "shape
history". It was not a case of "idealism" or "realism." Both had to
inform American foreign policy Bush took the view that someone had to
lead America into this new world of the 21st century ,and that his role
was to provide that leadership. Once he did, people and nations will
follow in the "slipstream." "We don't need a bunch of polls and focus
groups to tell us what to do". "
"Bush also persuaded himself that he had a "mission" which was divinely
ordained. " I was praying for strength to do the Lord's will. I am
surely not going to justify war based upon God. Understand that.
Nevertheless, in my case, I prayed that I would be as good a messenger
of his will as possible. And then of course, I prayed for personal
strength and for forgiveness." Bush's hubris and sense of his own
historical importance bubbles tragically throughout Woodward's Book. "
There are other interesting tidbits as well, but that paragraph sort of
stood out to me.
I think the world is doomed if Bush gets another term in office. There's
no reasoning with someone who thinks they are 'doing the will of god'.
There's also no atrocity that they will not commit once they make
themselves believe they are doing 'His Will' (God, Allah, Vishnu, Satan,
the Sun.insert deity name here). History has shown that over and over
again.
-Gel
--------
A rash of books has recently appeared dealing with Bush's war against
Saddam Hussein. Among the better accounts is Bob Woodward's epic, Plan
of Attack, which describes in chilling detail, the assumptions and
processes that informed Bush's fateful decision to invade Iraq to effect
"regime change." Plan of Attack reads very much like a best selling
novel, except that the characters are not imagined. The whole cast in
this tragic American story play themselves. From one perspective, the
book is contemporary history at its best. Some could however
legitimately say that it is history at its worst in that Woodward seems
to have become embedded in the Bush machine and seems unwilling to be
too critical of the books "hero". And true enough, some understories are
omitted.
There are many plot lines in the book, and one of necessity has to be
selective. Let us first look at the Bush's story line. Bush not only
cooperated with Woodward by agreeing to be interviewed on record, but
also urged other members of his White House team to do the same. Bush,
who has been known to complain that he is "misunderestimated", felt that
Woodward's account would provide a window through which his bashers
would come to see the type of leader he really is, what he cares about,
how he operates and makes decisions, and what he has done to define
America's place in the world of the 21st century.
Bush tells Woodward that he firmly believed that the United States is
"the" beacon of freedom in the world, and that he had a solemn
responsibility to promote that freedom "since doing so and protecting
the American people go hand in hand." Bush also told Woodward that it
was very important for him to understand the significance of his
presidency. He was seizing the opportunity provided by events to
"achieve big goals" and "shape history". It was not a case of "idealism"
or "realism." Both had to inform American foreign policy Bush took the
view that someone had to lead America into this new world of the 21st
century ,and that his role was to provide that leadership. Once he did,
people and nations will follow in the "slipstream." "We don't need a
bunch of polls and focus groups to tell us what to do".
Bush was obviously anxious to counter the view that he had made the
decision to topple Saddam and invade Iraq in order to grab Iraq's oil
resources long before September 11th as his former Secretary of the
Treasury, Paul O'Neil had claimed in his insider account, The Price of
Liberty, or that he was acting in response to an agenda crafted by Vice
President Dick Cheney and his cronies in Halliburton. Bush insists that
the decision to give the go ahead to Operation Iraq Freedom was an
emotional one for him since he did not enjoy "hugging the widows." As he
said to Woodward, "it was emotional for me. I prayed as I walked around
the circle. I prayed that our troops be safe, be protected by the
Almighty and that there be minimal loss of life". Bush also persuaded
himself that he had a "mission" which was divinely ordained. " I was
praying for strength to do the Lord's will. I am surely not going to
justify war based upon God. Understand that. Nevertheless, in my case, I
prayed that I would be as good a messenger of his will as possible. And
then of course, I prayed for personal strength and for forgiveness."
Bush's hubris and sense of his own historical importance bubbles
tragically throughout Woodward's Book.
Bush admits that on assuming office he did not pay sufficient attention
to the reports which he had received in respect of Bin Laden and his
threats to bring terror to the American homeland. "My blood was not
nearly as boiling." His attention was focussed on the big tax cut and
other domestic matters. September 11 changed all that. He now viewed the
events as an "opportunity" to go after Saddam whom was a "madman," a
"disciple of Stalin," someone whom he had a "sacred duty" to remove.
Saddam not only had Weapons of Mass Destruction, but had shown that he
was not beyond using them, even on his own people. "He tortures his own
people, hates Israel, and destabilises the area." Bush was clearly
driven by a concern for Israel and what might happen if Saddam attacked
Israel. "An attack on Israel would be catastrophic If we don't disarm
Saddam, he will put a Weapon of Mass Destruction on Israel, and they
will do what they think they have to do, and we have to avoid that."
Bush was no doubt concerned that Sharon, whom he described as a "bull,"
would retaliate with nuclear weapons, a development which would make it
difficult for Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and other Arab states to join
his coalition of the willing, secretly or otherwise.
Enter Powell, the man who opposed-at least initially-the vision
projected by the "vulcans" in respect of the Middle East. Powell, who
was dubbed the reluctant warrior, often found himself in Bush's
refrigerator. He was seen as someone who was too concerned about his own
legitimacy. Powell characterised the assumptions held by Cheney,
Wolfowitz and the other neocon extremists as "lunacy," and warned Bush
that if he attacked Iraq unilaterally, he would turn the "whole Middle
East into a cauldron". War would "suck oxygen out of everything." It
will destabilise friendly regimes in the Arab world, divert energies
away from the war on terrorism, and possibly even drive up the price of
oil, with all that would mean for the faltering American economy. Powell
also warned Bush that if he overthrew Saddam, there would be serious
unintended consequences that have now come to pass. "You are going to be
the proud owner of 25 million people. You will own all their hopes,
aspirations and problems. You'll own it all." As in the pottery shop,
"if you break it, you own it."
Powell obviously had a better understanding of Iraq's history and
sociology than some of his colleagues, and warned Bush that governing
Iraq after conquest will not be a "walk in the woods" and that he might
find himself without a credible exit. Powell also believed that if the
anger of the Arab street was aroused, he might have to close the doors
of many US embassies around the world. This may yet happen.
Powell advised the President that the UN route his best option in that
it would serve to internationalise the intervention. Bush and his
cronies however felt that the UN was a feckless and irresolute
"diplomatic mud pit", and that Powell was focusing too much on tactics
and not on the big picture, which was to overthrow Saddam and makeover
the Middle East. He quite naively declared himself convinced that the
Iraqis would welcome the Americans as liberators. "I believe that
freedom is something people long for, and that if given the chance, the
Iraqis would seize the moment." The debate within the war cabinet about
whether or not Iraq had WMD's was intense, and Powell was never
unequivocally convinced that Saddam had them. Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice,
Cheney, and the other "heavies" believed otherwise, and as Condi Rice
put it, "we do not want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." Cheney
too believed that Saddam was not only "unfinished business", but that a
"smoking gun" was not required in the given context. The standard of
proof had to be lowered. As he put it, "a smoking gun, irrefutable
evidence, would not be required for the US to defend itself. Defense
alone was not enough. The US had to go on the offensive." As another
hawk, George Shultz put it, "hot pursuit" had to be replaced by "hot
preemption."To him, "the risks of inaction were greater than the risks
of action." Powell would complain that Cheney had a "fever" about Iraq,
a sort of "obsession" which impaired his judgement.
Cheney however believed that one had to do what was not done prior to
September 11. "One had to connect the dots. How could they not connect
the dots after September 11?" Powell was of course right about most
things, but in the end he bought into the Vulcan agenda. Bush needed the
legitimacy which he enjoyed and begged for his support. As he told
Powell, on the verge of decision day, "I think I have to do this [i.e.
declare war] .I want you with me." Powell found it difficult to say no
to his boss and capitulated. "Yes sir, I will support you. I'm with you,
Mr President." Powell told associates that the President had come to a
fork in the road, and it was his obligation to go down the chosen road
with him. As Woodward concluded, no doubt after hearing from Powell, "no
way on God's earth could he walk away at that point. It would have been
an unthinkable act of disloyalty to the president, to Powell's own
soldier's code, to the United States military, and mostly to the several
hundred thousand who would be going to war." Even when it later became
clear that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, Powell
circled the wagons with the others and publicly defended Bush's war
decision. "It was the right thing to do," he told Woodward. He too had
come to "own" a part of Iraq.
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