Afghans, Iraqis and Other Non-Americans Exist for Our Amusement Was the Debate's Real Message
Press Action
Sunday, October 03, 2004
http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/holmquist10032004/
By Micah Holmquist
Watching George W. Bush and John Kerry speak may not be as exciting as a social tension reducing orgy at Scalia’s house, but simultaneous disjointed interviews could, in theory, be fun, so I ignored my better judgment and watched the September 30 presidential “debate.”
The event was 90 minutes of two guys saying they could wage the “war on terror” better. Neither said anything about the policy positions of the other beyond constructive criticism.
Bush said Kerry doesn’t always stick to his correct positions while Kerry thinks Bush isn’t doing enough sanctioning and intervening.
The vast majority of what both men said was campaign boilerplate material. However, Bush did give one interesting answer. When asked about when he would start lessening the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq, Bush gave a long and convoluted response that amounted to, “When our general is on the ground and Ambassador [John D.] Negroponte tells me that Iraq is ready to defend herself from these terrorists, that elections will have been held by then, that their stability and that they’re on their way to, you know, a nation that’s free; that’s when.”
What’s significant about this is that Negroponte isn’t, according to a speech Bush gave on May 24, 2004, supposed to be helping create policy in Iraq. Rather, he is merely to be working, in Bush’s words, “to assure good relations with a sovereign nation.”
Kerry didn’t respond to this statement or make any effort to discredit the suggestion that Iraq is “sovereign.” For instance, after Bush praised Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, Kerry never bothered to point out that The Washington Post had just reported that “the U.S. government and a representative of President Bush’s reelection campaign had been heavily involved in drafting the speech given to Congress last week by...Allawi."
These non-responses are symbolic of the entire exercise—a debate focusing on “foreign policy”—as the unstated assumptions of both candidates are far more significant than any of their differences.
Bush and Kerry both talked about “threats” to the U.S. (which apparently no longer includes Libya, in case you want to sleep soundly at night) as if they are an element of nature, unrelated to U.S. actions. And the two also share the view that other countries develop weapons of mass destruction primarily to attack the U.S.
These positions are absurd by any reasonable standard but they are not met with scorn because to deny them is to deny the primary unspoken assumption of mainstream discussions in the land of the free on the role of the home of the brave in the world. This primary assumption is, in my own words, the United States is wonderful and a force for freedom and all problems come from other places. This assumption leads to the current situation where the only evaluation done in the mainstream discourse about a particular intervention is how it affects the U.S. and its people.
Send weapons to Nepal? Why wouldn’t you? Directly kill many thousands of Afghans and Iraqis? That’s no problem. Have over 1,000 U.S. military men and women die in Iraq? You’ve got yourself something for the two real presidential candidates to talk about!
Accordingly, Bush and Kerry both spoke out about the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq, but neither managed a word for the suffering of Afghans or Iraqis. In fact, if you knew nothing other than what was said at the debate, you would have to conclude that life was peachy for inhabitants of those countries. (In other news, there are reports of food shortages and intense violence in Iraq from reputable mainstream and governmental sources. Maybe they’re wrong.)
The duo did talk about the horrible situation in Darfur region of Sudan after being prompted by moderator Jim Lehrer. Both said “genocide” was happening there, but neither dedicated proponent of U.S. military power seemed particularly bothered by it or wanted Uncle Sam to get all that involved. Sudanese lives apparently matter even less than those of people in Afghanistan and Iraq, but don’t worry as that would change the minute either President Bush or President Kerry decides to exploit their suffering for an economic, military and/or political advantage.
After all, we are talking about the President of the United States of America.
Micah Holmquist, editor of Irregular Thoughts and Links, is a Cadillac, Mich.-based writer.