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US Elections
Voodoo Politics by Robert M. Liu After being defeated by the U.S. in the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam Hussein had a Baghdad hotel lobby paved with a picture of former U.S. president George H.W. Bush, wishing that people's feet treading on the picture of his enemy would bring bad luck to his enemy. Would you share such a ridiculous belief? Probably not. You might even suspect this to be the product of a psychopathic mind. But hold on before you come to the conclusion that nobody would share Saddam Hussein's morbid mindset. For it seems somebody in the Democratic hierarchy is trying to draw inspiration from the former Iraqi dictator. Don't believe this? Just visit the new headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and you'll see a door-mat with President George W. Bush's face and a slogan printed on it. The slogan screams, "Give Bush a boot!" Clearly, the DNC invites visitors to tramp on the picture of the president of the United States of America -- just as Saddam Hussein did more than a decade ago in Baghdad. Is the DNC practicing Saddam Hussein mania or voodoo magic? When CNN's Judy Woodruff asked DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe what the door-mat was all about, he stepped on the door-mat’s Bush face without an answer and walked into the room. This kind of heated voodoo politics inside the DNC's new headquarters and on national TV is an indication of what is really on the DNC's mind -- vital national interests or partisan political interests. What kind of people are running the Democratic Party? Should American voters entrust a bunch of voodoo magicians with the security of the United States come November? More disturbing is the phenomenon of historical revisionism among some partisan players. For instance, recently a man called Richard Clarke appeared on TV, telling the public Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with terrorism and so it was wrong to topple his regime. Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was on the list of state sponsors of terrorism long before George W. Bush came into office. If Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with terrorism, why was his regime designated as a state sponsor of terror during the Clinton years? Some media reports indicated that the 1993 World Trade Center bombing bore Iraqi fingerprints. For instance, one of the culprits, Adbul Rahman Yasin, fled to Iraq, where he received housing and financial assistance from the regime, which refused to turn him over to the U.S., because it saw America as its sworn enemy. So, why was it wrong to treat Saddam Hussein as an enemy? More strangely, the mastermind of the 1993 WTC bombing, "Ramzi Yousef" (now in U.S. custody), claimed to be Abdul Basit Karim (a man who had studied in a British school called Swansea) and used copies of Karim’s Kuwaiti identification documents to apply for a new Pakistani passport, saying he had lost his passport, whereas fingerprints left by Karim at Swansea didn’t match those of "Ramzi Yousef". Yet, Ramzi Yousef’s fingerprints matched those on the fingerprint card in Karim’s Kuwaiti identification file. The problem is Kuwait was under Saddam Hussein’s occupation from August 1990 to January 1991, during which time, Iraqi intelligence personnel could easily alter any Kuwaiti identification files. In addition, the identification of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (now in U.S. custody) is also based on Kuwaiti documents, according to which, Mohammed is "Yousef’s uncle". Even the Court doesn’t know who "Ramzi Yousef" is, because the Kuwaiti identification documents of Abdul Basit Karim (who "Ramzi Yousef" claims to be) appear to have been altered. The question is: How could the al Qaeda terrorists involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing alter Abdul Basit Karim’s Kuwaiti identification file without the knowledge and permission of Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi intelligence? Therefore, the possibility that Saddam Hussein’s agents infiltrated the al Qaeda terrorist organization and participated in the planning and execution of the 1993 WTC bombing and the 9/11 attack on the United States cannot be ruled out. To say Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with terrorism is to challenge logic. Richard Clarke has worked for four administrations as counter-terrorism advisor. But he acts like a Democratic partisan operator, apparently far more interested in creating ammunition for the political left to use in attacking the Bush administration than in historical facts. And what about his well rehearsed apology to the 9/11 victims* families on national TV at the 9/11 commission hearing? In my opinion, it is not worth a penny and certainly not worth the commercial value of the TV time spent on this theatrical performance of his. 9/11 is not a matter of apologies. To be sure, the tragedy must have caused many at the CIA and the FBI to have heartfelt regrets. I wouldn’t be surprised if CIA director George Tenet is kicking himself like mad in private. But does he need to make a public show of regret and deep sorrow? In my opinion, that would be too melodramatic. What happened on September 11, 2001, was the consequence of the systemic loopholes and failed policies of the past. No apology can bring those three thousand 9/11 victims back to life. What’s important is to focus on how to stop loopholes and adjust policies. This is not the time for cheap apologetic politics. Former president Bill Clinton apologized for the 1994 Rwanda genocide, but none of the 800,000 to one million Rwandans killed under the nose of U.N. peacekeeping forces could hear him. Apologies cannot make up for the consequences of failure to take decisive action. In fact, the U.N. Security Council decided to pull out from Rwanda in the face of massive genocide. Even so, some people like Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (and French president Jacques Chirac) still want the United Nations to play a definitive role in international affairs. They forget this international organization has a dishonorable record of inaction in the absence of competent American leadership, without which, the U.N. is but another League of Nations. Kerry’s judgement is problematic, to say the least. The most effective security policy for the United States remains preemptive action to make regime change when necessary, once it becomes clear that diplomacy has failed. That would deprive the enemy of his ability to stall for time, get away and then fight another battle another day. John Kerry wouldn’t agree. But not long ago, his doctor told him he had prostate cancer. Soon, he had the cancer removed before it had a chance to spread. He didn’t wait till the threat of prostate cancer became imminent. Instead, he took preemptive action. Good for him! Back to the DNC’s voodoo magic, it creates an impression of desperation. Does it mean the folks at the new DNC headquarters lack confidence and so have to resort to voodoo practices? Does it mean they hate George W. Bush as much as Saddam Hussein hated George H.W. Bush? If so, why? Based on my past few years’ observation, two types of people in particular dislike the current Bush administration: evil people like terrorists who call Bush "the worst American president in history", and incompetent politicians who call the Bush team "the most arrogant administration in history". The truth as I see it is that the Bush administration is effective in getting things done. In less than four years, it has toppled two evil regimes, one in Afghanistan, one in Iraq. No wonder, evil people hate it most. No wonder, jealous of its achievements, incompetent politicians and partisan players want the public to confuse effectiveness with arrogance. But no matter how modest Senator John Kerry wants to portray himself, such mumbo-jumbo as "I actually voted for it before I voted against it" is unlikely to provide America and the Free World at large with the kind of effective leadership our time calls for. About the Author(s): See under Our Contributors to find out about the Author(s) of this article. |
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