Are You Listening, Mr. Bush?
Ramon Castellblanch
ctnow.com
February 21, 2003
On Tuesday, President Bush announced that he was
turning a deaf ear to the hundreds of thousands of
American people who rallied last weekend for a peaceful
solution in Iraq. Instead, he said, he would decide policy
based upon what he thinks protects our security - which
he seems to believe is most threatened by Iraq.
Even if one is concerned about the Iraqi threat to the
United States, I have a hard time understanding how
invading that country protects our security. The CIA has
said that the most likely way to expose us to an attack
from Iraq would be by attacking it. According to a recently
released assessment of the Iraqi danger to the United
States, Iraq "for now appears to be drawing a line short of
conducting terrorist attacks with conventional or ...
chemical and biological weapons against the United
States." But if "Saddam should conclude that a U.S.-led
attack could no longer be deterred, he probably would
become much less constrained in adopting terrorist
actions."
Of course, many citizens have different ideas than
President Bush does about what threatens our security.
Some worry that the efforts of the so-called Justice
Department to widely increase searches of citizens risk
our personal security. Others are frightened that U.S.
foreign policy is inspiring countries such as North Korea
to threaten our security with nuclear missiles. Many are
concerned that our tremendous expenditures on war are
undermining our government's ability to make long-term
provisions for the health and social security of the
American people.
The hundreds of thousands who turned out in the cold of
New York and in cities around the United States want
more than security. They want their voices heard. They
want a government that is responsive to its people. The
blue-collar workers and professionals, grandparents and
children who rallied are making it clear that they want a
country that does not attack without provocation. They want
their hands clean of the blood of Iraqi children, of their
mothers and their fathers. They want to leave coming
generations a world in which peaceful solutions are more
likely and not less likely.
President Bush may not believe that it is his job to attend
to the petitions of the people, but as a leader of a
constitutional government, he had better start trying. He
can start by paying attention to the concerns of the
hundreds of thousands who marched last weekend and
by trying to understand what brought them to the streets.
They've done their job as citizens and spoken; now G.W.
Bush should do his job as president and listen.
Ramon Castellblanch is assistant professor of health
education at San Francisco State University. His column
appears the second Friday of every month. To leave him a
comment, please call 860-241-3164. Or e-mail him at
ramonc@sfsu.edu.
E-mail: castellblanch@courant.com |
