Revising Nationalism or Condoning Slaughter - Part I

Posted by Cardozo

Since I began contributing to this page, I’ve often spoken of my impatience with the “good versus evil” theory that drives your foreign policy, Bush.

The terms of the theory, of course, are simple euphemisms. “Good” refers to America and anyone who supports her. “Evil” refers to anyone who disagrees with her to the point of taking up arms. Would you agree with these definitions? In other words, it is the preservation of the status quo of American dominance (conflated and equated with “good”) that underpins our foreign policy.

Thus, I wouldn’t go as far as some on the far left, who argue that racism, tempered by military and economic realities, determines which countries are branded with an “E” for evil on your war room map. (If race alone comprised the litmus test, your friends the Saudis would never have escaped inclusion in the “Axis of Evil.”)

No, it seems clear that plain old Nationalism – that scourge, that harbinger of war, that ever-ready excuse for all manner of atrocities – lurks, as always, behind the rhetoric and diplomacy. And I won’t blame you for the persistence of runaway Nationalism, Bush. Bill Clinton played the game too, as have each of your other predecessors, to my knowledge.

And as the death tolls mount on both sides of the Iraq conflict, and as Democrats preach eagerly to the choir (which now includes basically everyone) about your administration’s strategic incompetence, I wonder if it is time to begin discussing Nationalism, the elephant in the room.

There is one sure-fire way to prevent Americans from being targeted by suicide bombers, and that is to stop pissing the suicide bombers off. This strategy seems only too obvious, but is never seriously discussed by the President, in Congress, or in the mainstream media. Why? Because any policy revisions undertaken during a “war on terror” amount to a validation of terrorist tactics, and a violation of the great American dictum of non-negotiation with terrorists. Quite a corner you’ve thus painted us into, Bush. And one can see that it is your (and the neocons’) ultimate victory. In the context of a never-ending, global war on terror, America can never make substantive changes to her foreign policy.

So congratulations are in order, Bush. Regardless of outcomes in Iraq, it seems your larger failure - your refusal to grapple with the causes of anti-American sentiment- will remain unchallenged in Washington.