Ride em High, George! [Archives:2002/28/Focus]

COMMON SENSE
By Hassan Al-Haifi
There was a time when many people thought that for the United States to be the sole Superpower of the world, the world can count on a strong sense of common sense and prudence to predominate in international affairs. Some even thought that perhaps the world can now opt for a more peaceful world, with conscience prevailing over evil intentions and freedom and justice overcoming all forms of tyranny and inequity. There were even times that the United States projected this trend on the ground, as in the campaigns against Melosovitch.
However, since Mr. George Bush took the helms in the United States, with his cadre of seemingly incapable personnel, who seem to be running in all different directions, but in the end not reaching anywhere, the world began to turn topsy turvy, with American foreign policy stumbling into one pitfall of failure to another, and the world drawing closer to a more mysterious future. Moreover we seem to be getting farther than ever from achieving world peace and cohesion, as was hoped for after the end of the Cold War, let alone greater freedom.
Part of the problem stems from the naïve conception in the mind of Mr. George Bush, and some of his consorts that after September 11, 2001, the only way to deal with the world is through arrogance and a defiant disregard for any sense of values and conscientious in achieving a myriad of objectives. Not everyone truly sees how such objectives lead to the light at the end of the tunnel, through which the course of the world now passes. Not even Mr. Bush is able to project the kind of world we should now have after September 11, 2001, because Mr. Bush himself is unable to have the foresight to determine the outcomes of his very own actions or his narrow-minded conceptualizations or vizions (See Common Sense last week).
Moreover, the clear impression one gets is that the idea of continuity has been erased, as arrogance begins to dictate the course of foreign policy and only those that share this trait seem to be the only ones to find comfort in its misgivings about having a free world, to which the overwhelming population of the world can look forward.
Then comes the problem of national sovereignty and the equal partnership that the world needs in order to reach a more level ground, on which the international community can play. With arrogance at play now, sovereignty has become overshadowed by a sense of What is right for me is not necessarily right for you and What applies to you does not necessarily apply to me if I do not like it.
A friend of mine once suggested, early in the Bush II Era (even before September 11, 2001) that now the world will be turned into a rodeo ring, with Mr. Bush running around the ring with a rope at hand chasing one bull after the other, with sharpshooters pointing their sights at the bulls, just before Mr. Bush gets to them, shooting a drug into the bull to make the job easier for Mr. Bush. The problem is that a time could come when the sharpshooter will wish to capture the limelight and take it away from Mr. Bush and may point the sight at Mr. Bushs horse or Mr. Bush himself!
I am not sure if the world can be put to such a stark simile, but for sure American foreign policy falling into such gung-ho power maneuvering will not be a world where there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Chances are that once out of the tunnel, if we ever get there, we will find a heavy storm of rain, sleet and hail, and all the vehicles coming out of the tunnel will be put on a slippery course, out of control of their drivers and their drivers hoping that the worst thing they hit will be a malleable tree that will absorb the inevitable crash they must endure.
Two weeks ago, this observer heard a speech by the unbeatable Mr. William Clinton to the graduates of the American University of Dubai. One cannot fail to notice the remarkable difference in the eloquence and probity of thought that came in Mr. Clintons symphonic oratory. The speech may have been a clear message to the present American Administration that somehow, somebody is messing it all up for both American and the world and that arrogance should never be maxim that drives American foreign policy. It neither does America or the world at large any good.

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