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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JDN who wrote (493943)	11/17/2003 5:56:30 AM
From: Raymond Duray	Respond to of 769670

Tribune UK: George Bush: go home Mark Seddon, Editor tribweb.co.uk WE LIVE in an age of celebrity worship, but there is one celebrity who will not be welcome in Britain next week: President George W. Bush. In another astonishing lapse of judgement, Tony Blair has decided that now of all times, is the right moment to welcome the man who leads one of the worst American administrations in memory to these shores. The Prime Minister has accused those who oppose the upcoming state visit of being “anti American”. He is mistaken. The American people were robbed of their democratic rights in the election that saw M. Bush win the White House in hugely controversial circumstances. Mr. Bush led his country into an illegal war, and it is now having to come to terms with a decision that has turned Iraq into a bloodbath for American soldiers. It has also severely damaged Western relations with many countries in the Middle East. Mr. Blair argues that it is important to move on and rebuild Iraq and that the visit of President Bush shows how determined both countries are in that purpose. But there can be precious little reconstruction of that country while a guerrilla war rages within. The Prime Minister’s stated aim is to build a bridge between the United States and Europe. This mission is bound to fail as long as the hawkish Bush administration continues to defy world opinion and threaten world peace. Mr. Blair has modified his earlier approach of “liberal interventionism” to follow instead a policy favoured by one of his advisers, Robert Cooper, that of “liberal imperialism”. In other words, military intervention is acceptable in states that have deemed to have “failed”. There are any number of countries that could fall into this category, so Britain presumably will continue to act as President Bush’s Sepoy wherever he chooses to go next. Sadly, Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair have walked into the trap set by Osama bin Laden. The invasion of Iraq has opened that country to Islamic fundamentalists and their military backers. The US has evacuated from Saudi Arabia, while Turkey is reconsidering its relationship with the world’s only superpower. Fortunately, “regime change” in America is conceivable next year. The hope must be that the Democrats can rally around a progressive leader able to carry both his party and country before him.