The World Must Stop This Madman by Maureen Dowd - 19th Sep 2002 from The New York Times No, not Saddam. That other gun-toting, tough-talking cowboy in the Oval Office. The trap is sprung. The name of the game is containment. Contain the wild man, the leader with the messianic and relentless glint who is scaring the world. Surround him, throw Lilliputian nets on him, tie him up with a lot of United Nations inspection demands, humour him long enough to stop him from using his weapons and blowing up the Middle East. But this time, the object of the containment strategy is not Saddam Hussein, but George Bush, the president with real bombs, not the predator with plans to make them. America's European and Arab allies now act more nervously about the cowboy in the Oval Office who likes to brag of America as "the greatest nation on the face of the Earth" than the thug in the Baghdad bunker. "We don't want another war in this region," says an adviser to the Saudi royal family. "When Afghanistan is bombed, they just hit rocks. When there's bombing in our neighbourhood, they hit oil fields." Gerhard Schroeder's campaign prospects soared when he started running against Bush. "Many Germans," wrote The Times' Steven Erlanger, "seem to fear American military action in Iraq more than they fear Mr Hussein." With assistance from the rump cabinet of internationalists, including the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and the former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, America's allies have been engaged in a benevolent conspiracy to ensnare the President in the web of UN rules for war and diplomacy. The Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, insists that the Iraqi threat must be taken care of without "the firing of a single shot or the loss of a single soldier". He added a big sweetener, promising that American bombers could use Saudi bases if Bush would work through the UN. Privately, Saudi officials say they are alarmed by the Bush team's military strutting, and think it would have been much better to get rid of Saddam with a covert operation. They agree with the President that Saddam is a monster who not only eliminates his enemies, real and perceived, but also their wives, children and friends. But if he has nothing to lose, they worry, he might fire his chemical and biological weapons at the Saudis or the Israelis or give them to terrorists to use on the United States. By wrapping Bush in a warm embrace, the Persian Gulf allies hope to waltz him closer to where they want him to be. Meanwhile, the Egyptians and the Jordanians pinned Saddam to the mat and told him that if he had any chance of avoiding Armageddon, he should open up his country to inspectors. Thus, in just a few days, the Iraq crisis went from Saddam having a noose around his neck to W. being bound by multilateral macrame. "All the reasons for an attack have been eliminated," crowed Tariq Aziz, Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister. But the allies - and especially Aziz - should not underestimate the zeal of the Bush warriors. Saddam can admit a legion of inspectors, but that may not stop Bush from wriggling out of the UN restraints and declaring the despot's compliance a sham. The Arabs tut-tut that America should focus on rebuilding Afghanistan, getting a state for the Palestinians and pursuing the war on terrorism. But the Bushies have got a taste of empire building in Afghanistan and they like it. The White House adviser, Karl Rove, is building a Republican empire. The Defence secretary adviser, Richard Perle, the Deputy Defence Secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, and Vice-President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Scooter Libby, are building an ideological empire. Cheney is building a unilateral empire. And the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, is building a military empire. As Henry Kissinger told Newsweek, Rummy wants "to beat back the attitudes of the Vietnam generation that was focused on American imperfection and limitations". Besides, why should former CEOs Cheney and Rummy settle for mere Jack Welch-style perks when they can have the perks of empire? They can restore civilisation to the cradle of civilisation. Lemon fizzes, cribbage and cricket by the Tower of Babel. A 36-hole golf course on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates. ArabDisney in the hanging gardens of Babylon. Oil on tap at the Baghdad Hilton. Huge contracts for buddies in the defence and oil industries. Halliburton's Brown & Root construction company building a six-lane highway from Baghdad to Tel Aviv. How long can it be before the empire strikes back? |
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