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Politics : The Donkey's Inn -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (6233)	2/21/2003 6:40:54 PM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15516

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