Star Wars?
“...as we gather tonight, our nation is at war, our economy is in recession and the civilized world faces unprecedented dangers. Yet the state of our union has never been stronger... Our war on terror is well begun, but it is only begun. This campaign may not be finished on our watch, yet it must be, and it will be waged on our watch.”
These excerpts are from President George Bush’s first State of the Union address, delivered to Congress on Tuesday night January 29. Without exaggeration it was a historic address, actually an action program, envisioning a long-term campaign against terrorism worldwide. We all know that America has ample reason to do just that. Mr. Bush cited details heretofore not known to the general public, specifically that the US military found in Afghanistan “diagrams of American nuclear power plants,” which the terrorists had, that “tens of thousands of trained terrorists are still at large,” and that hostile countries, among them [North] Korea, Iraq, and Iran, are developing nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. “I will not stand by as peril draws closer and closer. The United States of America will not permit the world’s most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world’s most destructive weapons.”
President Bush spoke in Congress before the hearing of the budget bill with its military spending unprecedented over the past twenty years and the attendant deficit of $80 billion in 2003. And all this precisely because, “We will win this war... and we will revive our economy.”
Every day of hostilities in Afghanistan costs the United States $30 million. It is hard to imagine what it will cost to combat all those other countries Mr. Bush described as “an axis of evil.” Considering that the chief executive and his entourage are careful not to predict the duration of the war against terrorism, the whole project must be a long- term one (unless, of course, one considers Mr. Bush’s term of office).
The US president’s speech lasted 48 minutes and was interrupted by congressmen’s applause 76 times (one is inadvertently reminded of Soviet Communist Party congresses), Republicans and as well Democrats who, at this time of ordeal, decided to sacrifice their party interests.
A normal individual cannot approve of terrorism, particularly what happened on September 11, 2001; a normal individual must be for major surgery to amputate terrorism, this malignant tumor which has spread across the world. The US president’s address prompts one to make comparisons and draw parallels with what happened at different periods in history. Remember the idea of a world revolution, which, if implemented, would make the entire human race happy? Looking deeper into history, there was Alexander the Great with his plan to establish Greek supremacy all over the “barbarian” world.
Personally, I find it hard to believe that world terrorism can be eliminated by arms, even US weapons., especially since the principal target is Moslem fundamentalism. In his address Mr. Bush promised “a new effort to encourage development, and education, and opportunity in the Islamic world.” And further, “We have no intention of imposing our culture — but America will always stand firm for the non-negotiable demands of human dignity: the rule of law..., limits on the power of the state..., respect for women..., private property..., free speech..., equal justice..., and religious tolerance.” He mentioned the underlying principles of the American way of life and democracy. Meanwhile, far from all countries, even those being supposedly part of the Western world, are capable of quickly integrating these values into their own lifestyle (examples are plentiful). A great many people in the Moslem world do not have the slightest idea about such democratic principles — or totally reject them as being at variance with the shari’ah, meaning that such principles are not what they consider a normal way of life. A gradual development of culture is the only way to bring the two worlds closer together, sometime in the future (meaning that the Western world and Christian culture must also undergo certain transformations; much has been done in that direction under the able guidance of Pope John Paul II). Also, one has to bear in mind that there are over two billion Moslems, at least twice the number of people living in the Western world.
The United States is a very special country with practically unlimited opportunities. It has staged an excellent demonstration of its military potential; in a matter of ten weeks considerably more was achieved than in ten years by the Soviet troops in Afghanistan (and this considering that the powerful Soviet industries, including all their research centers, had spent decades working exclusively for the military, and that manpower had always been considered expendable, never even remotely subject to such care as overseas). However, acting out the super-thriller scenario we heard from President Bush could exhaust even American resources.
