THE MINISTRY of Doublespeak has been working overtime lately.
Propaganda has long been a useful tool in the arsenal of militaries worldwide. Sadly, the United States government seems to be woefully inept in wielding it. Despite millions of dollars spent on sophisticated efforts to change international public opinion, the United States' war with Iraq has been met with nearly uniform opposition throughout the globe -- especially in the Arab world. Has anyone stopped to wonder why? Why is it that, for some reason, the entire world seems to disagree with the Bush administration's policy towards, well, everything? Are they all just unsympathetic to America? Do they all merely hate us, and oppose American policies simply because they're American? That's a simplistic and woefully myopic view of foreign policy, but it's the type of lazy thinking that currently seems to dominate American society -- and sadly, even some of that on Grounds. That very sort of backward view of world affairs is what has allowed conservatives to shape an unsustainable and shortsighted American foreign policy. Students should realize when they're being sold on this sort of agenda and, more importantly, oppose it.
From the beginnings of Bush's disputed presidency, our conservative-led government has led our country into defying just about anything the rest of the international community has come to a consensus on -- and there's not much. From the Kyoto Environmental Protocols, hammered out over years of tough negotiation between the leading industrial powers; to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia, which helped stabilize the arms race and strengthen international security; to the Rome Treaty, which established the International Criminal Court, possibly the most significant step forward the world community has taken in fifty years to protect human rights; to effectively thumbing America's nose at the United Nations and the Security Council when it refused to grant the authority to invade Iraq; to international opinion demanding a much tougher stance towards Israel's brutal subjugation of the Occupied Territories, the Bush administration seems to have deemed itself somehow special, unconstrained by common regard for consensus building and diplomacy, and ultimately "wiser" than other states.
The current war in Iraq is a good example. Most other nations, many with genuine interests in America's continued security, rejected the notion of American aggression against Iraq. Among other things, they argued that doing so was unnecessary, given the huge losses in civilian life and infrastructure, the massive rebuilding process to be required after a major military operation and the destabilizing effect on the always-fragile Middle Eastern political atmosphere. All of these things would, in some direct way, affect every nation -- especially the wealthier, industrialized ones. They also smelled hypocrisy in this newfound American crusade for human rights in Iraq -- which just happens to have one of the largest untapped oil reserves in the world -- given our close relationship with other oppressive and corrupt regimes (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel and Nigeria, to name a few). Thus, the vast majority of the world community rightly opposed an American invasion.
Of course, non-Americans can't vote for the Republicans come November, so out rolled the domestic propaganda. The Bush administration slickly juxtaposed Saddam Hussein and Afghanistan, one right after the other, as if our war on terrorism necessitated that we begin yet another war on Iraq. Apparently it was effective. A New York Times/CBS News survey revealed a while ago that 42 percent of Americans believe that Saddam Hussein is directly responsible for the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon; and an ABC News poll says that 55 percent of Americans believe that Saddam Hussein directly supports al Qaeda. If you're one of those people, prepare yourself: Those are fabrications.
There has been no evidence that showed any connection between Iraq and the terrorist attacks of September 11. None has even been attempted, save for the desperate rhetoric about God and the forces of good and evil coming from our confused head of state.
The glossy media campaign the Bush administration employed to sell the war on Iraq worked with many Americans, who were too busy or careless to inform themselves about the issue elsewhere. This was the same strategy used to drum up public opposition to the Rome Treaty or ABM Treaty. Among those Americans who even took the time to find out what these issues were, few cared enough to read more than the administration's party line, which they shrugged at, accepted as legitimate, and then forgot about. The problem at root was not so much the principled political differences between liberals and conservatives; rather, the disease was apathy on the part of the American public. Somehow, Americans just don't care enough about the rest of the world to bother themselves with its goings-on. Americans refuse to be informed.
For us, U.S. interests must come first. But Americans must realize that American interests and those of the world community are not all that different. Plunging America headlong into a policy of refusing to cooperate with the rest of the world is a dangerous step that this abysmally conservative administration has taken, and one that jeopardizes the interests we share with every other nation in the world -- peace, prosperity and mutual understanding. Students should recognize the Bush administration's policies for what they are: simplistic, harmful, and ultimately unrealistic. And the only way to do that is to become informed. It's up to you.
(Blair Reeves's column appears Mondays in the Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at breeves@cavalierdaily.com.)
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