The real story -unnoticed by the post-game commentators- was the evening's massive missed opportunity. Kerry was obviously right to stress that Bush was over-eager to go to war with Iraq before exhausting all other opportunities. But he ignored the major source of anti-American feeling throughout the world, beside the act of invasion itself: that this Administration has been too willing to compromise the intrinsically American principles of freedom and democracy in its wrong-headed pursuit of the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq. This has been noted within the United States too, and it makes many people nervous.
If Kerry is serious about winning this election, he needs to add a basket of concrete proposals to his platform, which shows he deeply understands the founding principles of his country and cares about freedom and democracy. These would include the following:
- Closing Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba by December 2005, either releasing all prisoners to their country of origin or setting trial dates for those perpetrators who merit prosecution. Prisoners selected for prosecution would be transferred to appropriate prisons on the mainland, allowed access to lawyers, and treated according to the Geneva Convention.
- Closing Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq by December 2005, releasing uncharged prisoners as soon as possible and handing over those facing charges to the civilian administration in Iraq.
- An immediate end to the so-called "enemy combatants" status of federal prisoners: all prisoners to have access to lawyers and the courts.
- Reviewing the current procedures with respect to the detention and handling of illegal immigrants, to ensure that injustices and unwarranted detentions do not happen to innocent people under the rubric of "fighting the war on terror".
- Repealing the Patriot Act as an urgent priority of the incoming Administration.
To maintain the appearance of "toughness" to the American electorate, he should stress items already in his platform:
- Increased security at all points of entry into the USA.
- Increase the effectiveness of the CIA / FBI. Appoint effective leaders, assign them appropriate powers and budgets.
- Pre-emptive war or covert action remain on the table against terrorists anywhere, anytime.
- Tougher action against countries with real WMDs: Iran and North Korea.
- A renewal of emphasis on the task of hunting down and capturing or killing Osama Bin Laden and his lieutenants.
The United States of America is a glorious idea founded on the principles of democracy and freedom. John Kerry needs to stress the fundamental point to the American people that, without these principles, the USA ceases to exist and becomes a mere chunk of real estate west of Ireland.
1 comment:
Tim,
I think you've got it exactly right that there is little difference in how Kerry will execute policy in Iraq. And your thoughts on lifting the Draconian treatment of prisoners would go a long way toward improving the American image. I was struck in the debate just how much Kerry felt compelled to take the Tough Guy stance. Given that the foreign policy
discussion is ruled by fear, there seems to be no opportunity to even raise the larger question - is the War on Terrorism really necessary? I have
heard no discussion in this vein. So here's my take:
The events of 9/11 were so horrific that the feeble minds of average Americans were quite literally blown. The invasion of Afghanistan was unsatisfactory. Osama and Mullah Omar escaped and while the Taliban was
routed, the American contribution consisted mostly of air power support.
The American psyche cried out for PAYBACK - for American boys with the worlds finest military hardware to go to the Midleast to kill RAGHEADS(didn't matter who as long as they were Muslims). Enter Iraq and Saddam Hussain, already demonized in the minds of Americans by Bush I (only Fidel Castro is as universally hated but he's not Muslim). So after a year of sabre rattling to whip the nation into a war frenzy, Bush unleashes a 3 1/2 week SHOCK AND AWE blitz which takes the country apart. At that point, it was MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. The payback was complete but as one of the hexagrams of the I Ching warns - "the ram butting his head against the fence gets his horns entangled" and thus the present mess.......
Now back to the War on Terror...... There is a threat out there from a group of Islamic fundamentalists. Their belief system is not very appealing just like that of the Christian fundamentalists who support Bush is enough to make you puke. In many ways this does seem like a religious war with fundamentalist Christianity and Judaism on one side and fundamentalist Islam on the other. But how to access the threat? From the vantage point of my old farmhouse on a dirt road in Vermont and not being invited to briefings of the National Security Agency, it's a bit hard to say. What I can see is that if you seek to occupy the Muslim lands of the Middleast, the local inhabitants will shoot at you. The same thing would be true if Muslims sought to occupy Vermont. I'd say the essential question is do we
need to commit the resources of a whole generation to a global campaign (crusade?) to combat this threat? Could we do it with limited military operations using Green Berets and better policy? The US has a larger military budget than all the nations of the world combined. Can a bunch of militant Towelheads spread across many countries really pose that big a threat? In so many ways the unconditional support by the US of Sharon in
Isreal is a source of bottomless bitterness in the Muslim world. Could we find a way to be more evenhanded?
Nobody is even asking these questions. The political realities are such that it's not possible. Political cynicism is raised to a High Art and peoples' fears are exploited to the max. The US is such a provincial nation that when we come into conflict with the world's people that blindness becomes deadly. Vietnam is the perfect example. I'm not optimistic.
Paul Krugman is speaking at Williams next week. I'll ask him these questions.
Chris
ps Regarding Abu Ghraib - this not "prisoner abuse", this is torture. It all says to me that if the Bushies remain in power, it's only a matter of time before they begin to torture those of us who disagree.
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