This article is an adaptation of a larger piece, entitled “Iraq and Preemptive Self-Defense,” I wrote for inclusion in The Iraq War & Its Consequences, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., Singapore, scheduled for publication in September 2003. That article, in addition to some of the elements explored here, discusses the real reasons for the invasion of Iraq.
Overview
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, against the Twin Towers in New York City and the Pentagon, are said to have changed everything in the world. I do not agree. What may have changed as a result of September 11 is the American psyche and its newfound sense of vulnerability in the world. In my view, what has not changed is the attitude of the Bush administration. It has been very much “business as usual,” in the sense that those in power are taking advantage of uncertainties and fear to advance their own political and ideological agendas.
I believe that President George W. Bush’s administration took advantage of the fear and uncertainty engendered by the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001 to put forth a national security policy of preemptive self-defense as if it were a direct response to September 11 instead of just one element of a longer-standing, post-Cold War political vision of unrivaled U.S. power developed by members of the administration. They then used that policy as a justification to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq.
In order to achieve those foreign policy goals, the Bush administration relied on outright lies, distortions, and manipulation of information to push the American public to support an invasion of Iraq. Domestically, major media outlets acted more like public relations firms for the administration’s agenda than objective news sources that supposedly underpin the much-lauded American free press. Meaningful public debate was stifled, and the press largely ignored opposition to the war. Those who did dare to speak out were publicly attacked and vilified. In this post-September 11 environment, people across the country who did not agree with Bush’s policy direction felt isolated and unsure of their own concerns about the dramatic press for war and the attacks on civil liberties at home.
Internationally, the administration tried to use similar manipulations, coupled with intense political and economic pressure, to achieve international support for the invasion. They had hoped to build on the surge of global sympathy toward the United States in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, and the international cooperation that developed in the administration’s war on terrorism resulting from those attacks. Instead, in the process of taking the United States to war, the Bush administration alienated some of its closest allies and much of the Arab world.
The administration’s policy of preemptive self-defense threatens to dramatically destabilize international security and international law and has set a dangerous precedent, the ramifications of which will be felt for years if not decades. In using the violence of September 11, 2001, to advance their foreign policy agenda, members of the Bush administration have made the United States more vulnerable and have eroded civil liberties, further diminished free expression in America, and threatened the very fabric of our democracy.
