For George W. Bush's reign of fear, it was a fitting declaration. With his narcissistic strut, he tries to project strength. But how does a president project anything but weakness in having the world's greatest power tremble over evidence of file-updating by an enemy with a tiny fraction of his military capacity?
Why Bush has more to fear than fear itself
By LAWRENCE MARTIN
UPDATED AT 12:07 PM EDT Thursday, Aug 5, 2004
The latest terrorism alert -- which, like the others, has thankfully produced nothing but fear itself -- was based primarily on at least three-year-old communications in Pakistan. Though there is unsettling material, nothing in these documents suggests that any attack was planned for this period of time.
Yet the Bush administration went ahead with another dire terror alert anyway, spreading alarm through Gotham. The President then turned up the hysteria volume another notch. "We are a nation in danger," he said.
For George W. Bush's reign of fear, it was a fitting declaration. With his narcissistic strut, he tries to project strength. But how does a president project anything but weakness in having the world's greatest power tremble over evidence of file-updating by an enemy with a tiny fraction of his military capacity?
It's probably the response that Osama bin Laden and his network of savages would have desired. It's as if they're toying with the United States. They can be pictured in their caves or Saudi palaces, feet up, chuckling. "What American city should we petrify with a leaked document today? Chicago? Miami? Or need we even bother? It's been three years since 9/11, and they're still paranoid. They're right where we want 'em -- in an eternal state of fear."
Having handed the enemy its first gift by attacking a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, Mr. Bush now bestows on them a second: victory on the battlefield of psychological warfare. The President's terror alerts, whatever their motivation, are enough to do it. Osama bin Laden is like David, slingshot at the ready, in the centre of the ring. His Goliath, George Bush, cowers in the corner, repeatedly sending out warnings to his people to run for cover.
Ernest Hemingway defined courage, rather incompletely, as grace under pressure. Mr. Bush demonstrates something approaching the opposite. History tells us that the last thing strong leaders do is send a signal that their side is frightened. Can anyone imagine a Churchill or Napoleon demonstrating this kind of fear over documents that spell out no plot but that -- O heavens! -- have been updated?
Even if the threat information is well-founded, wouldn't it make more sense, as many argue, for the government to quietly issue instructions to law enforcement agencies to beef up security and let the country go about its business confidently?
Mr. Bush has at least one probability working in his favour. Odds suggest that, at some point, there will be another terrorist hit on the United States, be it something as common as a car bomb. It could come tomorrow, for all anyone knows, and Democrats and others trying to minimize the threat need beware. Shouts of "I told you so" could crush them.
Mr. Bush has his officials scrambling to convince skeptics that his latest terror warning wasn't politically motivated. But, in his business, credibility is earned by example. On that basis, no wonder so many are crying foul. The U.S. intelligence agencies have suffered one embarrassment after another. Why should they be believed now? Almost every terrorism alert has come at a time when news is favourable to the Democrats. Is it all just coincidence? Republicans who have left this White House have said that everything Mr. Bush does is sacrificed to the political imperative. Would it have changed now?
Given their track record, the Democrats have no occasion to complain about the use of war and fear for political gain. They only need look at Bill Clinton's air raids on Baghdad on the day of his impeachment hearings over the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Or his blatant exaggerations, as evidence later showed, for going to war in Kosovo.
But Mr. Bush and his intelligence crew lost their right to the benefit of the doubt some time ago. It happened over Iraq and the banned-weapons file. In essence, that was a phony terror alert. Just like -- most probably -- this last one.
Mr. Bush's nation, which outspends the next closest military power by $300-billion annually, may be in danger, as he says it is. But the reason he is constantly handing the enemy psychological victories with his cowering terror alerts is more likely because of the danger he himself faces: losing the presidency.
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