Page 2 of
2 Father, son and Holy
Ghost By Ehsan Ahrari
turned out, highly controversial policy
between 1974 and 1976 of detente with the Soviet
Union. Still, the name of the great-power game was
alliance-building and the use of multilateralism
to minimize the potentially deleterious effects of
all anticipated and unanticipated factors.
President Reagan, who often referred to
the United States as a "shining city on the hill",
was equally determined to ensure
America's military dominance
of the world, for he, more than Nixon or any other
president, saw the Soviet Union as the focus of
evil as well as an "evil empire".
However,
even in using the language of morality, Reagan
remained focused on the secular aspects of
balance-of-power politics and clear-headedly
pursued America's permanent (as much as it was
worldly possible) supremacy over the Soviet Union.
Reagan seldom deviated from America's much-tested
multilateral approach to global affairs.
In George W Bush's thinking, God (the
"higher Father" in the Christian sense of the
word) played an important role. Bush is a man who,
as a presidential candidate in 2000, mentioned
Jesus Christ as the greatest philosopher
influencing his thinking. Then the world also
found out that he was a born-again Christian.
It was apparent that Bush couched the
major crisis of his administration - global "war
on terrorism" - in a highly moral sense. He
initially talked about conducting a "crusade"
against Osama bin Laden or al-Qaeda, but dropped
that phrase under advisement about its incendiary
nature. However, Bush regularly referred to bin
Laden and his cohorts as "evildoers" in a purely
religious sense of the word.
Saddam
Hussein, according to Bush's thinking, was also
the epitome of evil who should have been ousted
during his father's presidency. When Bush Jr
became president, that objective became an
important aspect of religious zeal, no matter the
cost. Liberation of Iraq, in the private world of
George W Bush, was also a Christian thing to do.
The next step would be to establish in Iraq
Western-style democracy, which, even though it
promoted secularism, had its own legacy of
Christian founding fathers of American democracy.
But Bush's vision of promoting democracy
in the Muslim Middle East was as much about
Christianity as it was about denying centrality to
Islam. There might not be anything insidious or
anti-Islamic in such thinking. But that was how it
is being envisaged in Iraq and in other Muslim
nations, where people are just as religious as
President Bush. So America's business in Iraq is
God's business, or to use Bush's phrase, it is the
business of "a higher Father".
So if
America's business in Iraq is to pursue the agenda
of a "higher Father", then how can the ISG avoid
talking about a strategy that guarantees success?
According to Bush's born-again frame of reference,
there is something inherently "wrong" with that
report. But he cannot come out and say that.
So he is awaiting the reports from his own
people, who are in charge of the National Security
Council, the Pentagon, and the Department of
State. In all likelihood, the foundations of all
three reports from those institutions will
emphasize the success that Bush, as a born-again
Christian, is convinced that the United States is
destined to encounter in Iraq.
There is no
other way. In the meantime, a higher Father's
business has to be carried out in Iraq, no matter
how many Iraqis and Americans die for it. That is
why he said many weeks ago, "I will not withdraw
from Iraq even if [wife] Laura and [pet dog]
Barney are the only ones supporting me."
Ehsan Ahrari can be reached
at eahrari@cox.net. His columns appear
regularly in Asia Times Online. His website:
www.ehsanahrari.com.
(Copyright 2006
Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
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