JEDDAH — Today Crown Prince Abdullah is scheduled to hold a meeting with US President George W. Bush. In many ways, the meeting will be uneven because of the nature of the two leaders involved. On the one hand, there is an Arab leader known for his decency, honesty, evenhandedness and decisiveness. The other, though known as the most powerful man on earth, is known for his “indecisiveness”, “ignorance of world affairs” and “limited intellectual capabilities”. These descriptions are not mine but have been used by the international press, if not by some of the American media. In fact, Cokie Roberts, the co-anchor of “ABC This Week”, one of the most popular and serious Sunday news programs, mentioned a movement within the Democratic Party in Congress questioning Bush’s ability to govern.
Bush was elected president by the narrowest of margins, so narrow that many people wonder whether he has a mandate to govern. To many of his supporters, his present high popularity ratings are proof of the mandate. To sustain it, however, he has to keep alive the reasons behind it — which means that he must keep alive the so-called “War on Terrorism.” Americans have been told to ferret out the terrorists in their kitchens, under their beds, in the subways and in their swimming pools. And if that is not enough, they must search for terrorists wherever in the world people disagree with America’s war on terrorists. It is, of course, a sham war because as the whole world knows, it is not a war on terrorism. It is simply a cover for America’s attempt to spread its hegemony and interests by force of arms.
To the Arab world, American policy has been fatally affected by its support for Israeli policies and Israel’s so-called war on terrorism. Israel’s clever and insidious adopting the slogan ‘War on Terrorism’ hijacked America’s and possibly downgraded it. The entire world — except for the US administration and its Israeli lobby — knows that what Israel faces is a struggle against its Nazi-like occupation of Palestine. So why does the US, the self-identified beacon of liberty, freedom and human rights support Israeli terrorism? The answer is not a simple one nor are we expected to find excuses for an American administration that reflects none of the high moral values America claims. Nonetheless, it is worth exploring why America follows a path that will guarantee it the shortest possible period as a superpower. American support for Israel has not been without its problems; there have been significant disagreements, especially when Israeli transgressions were too obvious to ignore. But never in history has US support for Israel been so uncritical; the American administration supports any Israeli action and condemns any Palestinian one. The most laughable and most tragic of the present administration’s acts — and one questioned by the American media as well as the international press — has been Bush’s reference to Ariel Sharon as a “man of peace”. This is an insult to the word “peace” and calls into question whether Bush understands its meaning.
The whole world knows how Bush was elected, and how beholden he is to the constituency which put him in office. Put simply, he is beholden to the extreme right wing in America, including the southern Bible belt.
These are the religious fundamentalists who do not see beyond their Sunday Schools or their county lines. Their godfather is the rabid Pat Robertson, who would have been quite at home as a member of the Spanish Inquisition. These people offer blind support to the political right wing to further its social and political goals within and without the US. To accomplish this, the administration has been heavily infiltrated by hawkish right wingers who hark back to an earlier era. America’s hawkish approach to world affairs since Sept. 11 could not have been sustained without willing coalition partners and in the Middle East no nation fits the bill like Israel, the superhawk.
To guarantee Israel’s support, America did not need to depend upon Israel at all. It had the ready, willing, and able services of the unregistered Israeli lobby that permeates the decision-making process in the US. Some of the stars of this lobby and of the unholy alliance with Israel are Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Elliot Abrams, John Bolton, Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk. Of course topping the list should be Condoleeza Rice, more pro-Israeli than the Israelis themselves.
It is a fact of life that we have to deal with a president controlled by this extremist Israeli lobby just as much he is by an ugly right that has nothing in common with Israel except for a love of death and destruction. The sad thing is that this love of death and destruction is to the detriment of the US and the entire world. Chris Mathews in a recent edition of MSNBC’s “Hard Ball” questioned Richard Perle aggressively about the lobby’s blind support for Israel. Pearl’s lame excuses did not impress Pat Buchannan, an ultra-nationalist, who does not understand why American interests should be sacrificed for Israeli ones. In other words some voices are beginning to be heard; not all reason has been lost in the US. Maybe our crown prince can be instructive in serving America’s interests and altering its course back to what we loved America for in the past.