The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : ERODING CREDIBILITY

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Tuesday, Jun 22, 2004

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ERODING CREDIBILITY

UNITED STATES PRESIDENT George W. Bush faces a credibility crisis with the gap between the reality and his projections of it widening. While Mr. Bush continues to insist that Iraq will become free, democratic and peaceful once sovereignty is nominally transferred to an interim government, the situation is bound to remain chaotic. The movement of national resistance against foreign occupation is not likely to weaken since the interim government is not at all a free or democratic entity as it has been chosen primarily by the American-led forces. The Bush administration also deceives the world when it maintains that soldiers in the lower ranks were solely responsible for the torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners. There has been mounting evidence that the Pentagon authorised the use of interrogative techniques in which abuse was inherent. Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld signalled that such practices were not unacceptable even if he did not specifically order that these methods be used. While these issues will haunt Mr. Bush, his credibility has already been severely damaged by the findings of a bipartisan commission of enquiry that the regime of deposed Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, was not connected with Al-Qaeda in any manner. With the U.S. President persisting with his claim of a significant linkage, The New York Times was led to editorialise that he either "knew he was not telling the truth, or he has a capacity for politically motivated self-deception that is terrifying in the post-9/11 world."

Mr. Bush and senior U.S. officials have tried to argue that the commission only established that the Saddam regime was not involved in the tragic events of September 11, 2001. They insist that the enquiry did not take note of a long association between the secular Ba'athists and the fundamentalist Al-Qaeda because the issue was not within its mandate. However, this is a blatant attempt at obfuscation since the commission did examine the matter in depth. After all, the Bush administration went all out, in its attempt to justify the lawless invasion of Iraq, to convince Americans that the Ba'ath regime was complicit in the 9/11 attacks. The commission's findings might now induce those who believed in the existence of such a connection to re-examine their pro-war stance. These findings reinforce the opinion, shared by a widening spectrum of the American electorate, that Mr. Bush diverted the focus away from anti-terrorist operations as he pursued a misconceived agenda against the Saddam regime.

A group composed of retired military officers and diplomats, many of them sympathisers of the Republican party, recently castigated the Bush administration for shredding alliances that were cultivated over many years. In accusing the present administration of weakening the security of the U.S., these former public servants delivered a body blow to the Bush campaign's main theme — that the incumbent President is an able commander-in-chief. Recent opinion polls indicate that despite the administration's many lapses Mr. Bush still enjoys as much popular support as his Democratic opponent, John Kerry. However, the Republicans cannot draw much comfort from these findings since their candidate's performance in office is judged as inadequate by more than 50 per cent of likely voters. No recent incumbent with such a poor job approval rating at this point in the campaign season has been re-elected. While early signs of an economic recovery, especially rising employment rates, offer some cheer to the incumbent, the turnaround will have to be rapid if he is to cut into the substantial lead Mr. Kerry has opened up on social and economic issues.

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