President George W. Bush’s inauguration speech Thursday left most people in
the Middle East unimpressed and unmoved, and more concerned than ever about
U.S. foreign policy directions. The prevalent reaction in this region was
that he has merely raised the level of American double standards in the
world to a new level of incredulity, given the massive gap between America’s
rhetorical commitment to democracy and freedom and the reality of its often
whimsical foreign policy priorities. Five specific problems in Bush’s speech
stand out starkly in the eyes of observers in the Middle East.
The first is that Bush’s ringing endorsement of freedom and liberty – he
mentioned the words 42 times in his speech – do not necessarily match the
priorities of most people in the developing world, where national
liberation, development, dignity, justice, and meeting basic human needs
tend to be much more urgent and common demands. Bush accurately echoed the
powerful appeal and hallowed place of liberty in America’s history and
values, but clearly he does not grasp the nuanced order of multiple
priorities that define the lives of individuals and entire societies in
other lands.
Once again, he reflected the neoconservative tendency to allow peculiarly
American emotionalism and triumphalism to prevail over the more sober
dictates of global realism. Linked to this is the fact that most people in
the Middle East – and probably the rest of the globe – reject the idea that
the United States is either divinely mandated or formally certified by any
global authority to promote freedom or any other value around the world. The
world sees Americans’ own sense of the universal power of their fine
national ideals as both presumptuous bombast and unacceptably predatory
aggression.
Second, most Middle Easterners feel that the United States’ rhetorical
commitment to freedom and democracy is sharply contradicted by the United
States’ enduring support for autocrats and dictators. This was not just a
Cold War problem, for even since the fall of Communism a decade and a half
ago the U.S. has continued to support undemocratic thugs, authoritarian
strongmen, and benevolent autocrats, in countries like Egypt, Uzbekistan,
Tunisia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and numerous others.
The third prevalent criticism of Bush’s cry for freedom worldwide will focus
on American policy in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Strong American
support for Israel and for many of its policies in occupying and colonizing
Palestinian lands will be seen in the Arab world as a practical commitment
to the subjugation of the Palestinians, not their liberty. This flagrant gap
between an American rhetoric of liberty and a long-standing policy
commitment to Israel that perpetuates Palestinian occupation will continue
to be the single biggest reason for deep Arab skepticism of American
promises or rhetoric.
The fourth reason for widespread doubt about Bush’s pledges concerns his
suspect motives. Arabs and Muslims widely already reject Bush’s simplistic
analysis that ‘resentment and tyranny’ in the Arab-Asian region are the
causes of the terror that assaulted the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001, and that the
perpetrators were motivated by hatred for American notions of freedom.
American policies ‘to promote freedom and democracy’ in the Middle East are
not seen as mainly designed altruistically to help the recipient people, but
rather are seen as self-serving instruments of America’s own defense. When
the U.S. government acts to protect its own people and national interests,
carrying out its legitimate right and duty, but does so under the rhetorical
screen of calling for freedom and democracy for others, those others remain
highly dubious because they do not believe that Washington is acting out of
sincerity and solidarity.
The fifth concern about Bush’s second inaugural speech reflects a fear that
Washington will now pursue more regime changes in lands beyond Afghanistan
and Iraq – both of which are deeply troubled and unstable since the
American-led wars in those places. Iran, Syria, and others will be concerned
that Washington will use its diplomatic, economic and military assets to
pressure them and perhaps change their regimes and governance systems.
Pre-emptive warfare has become official policy for Washington in the past
three years, and Bush’s speech Thursday frightens many in the world that we
will see much more of this strategy in the years to come.
These five basic concerns will be widely echoed around the Middle East and
other parts of the world in the days to come – not because people dislike
Bush’s rhetoric, but rather because they have mainly felt the negative,
often destructive, consequences of American foreign policy in recent years.
Instead of flamboyantly, almost childishly, summoning divine inspiration for
an American global ‘calling’, as Bush did in his speech, the United States
would do better to craft practical foreign policies that are consistent,
undiscriminating, and based on working with like-minded partners around the
world.
Middle Easterners and people around the world would jump over each other to
work with the U.S. to promote freedom and democracy, but only if
Washington’s policies sought such goals consistently, in all lands, for all
peoples, without whimsy or exceptions. The United States should not merely
affirm that freedom is indivisible; it should implement a foreign policy
that gives life to that belief. In recent years, Washington has been too
willing to support dictators and occupying powers for its sudden calls for
freedom everywhere to be taken seriously. That is why Bush will hear a great
deal of skepticism from around the Middle East, and other parts of the
world, in the next few days. The gap between the rhetoric and the policy is
simply too wide, and has been for many, many years.
Rami G. Khouri is executive editor of the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper,
published throughout the Middle East with the International Herald Tribune.
Copyright © 2004 Rami G. Khouri / Agence Global
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Released: 21 January 2005
Word Count: 925
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