"The ugly American"

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THE BLINKERED arrogance of George Bush and the support he still enjoys among a large section of the United States press and population provide us with telling insights into what we may call the American mentality. Essentially, the message they send is this: We are the world's only superpower, Bush is our President and Commander in Chief. We can do what the hell we want and those who don't like it can stuff it! Instead of holding the President and his team of warmongers accountable for the horror and chaos they have created by their unjustified and illegal invasion of Iraq, Bush is still being hailed as a strong leader who is needed by the US to prosecute the war against terrorism.

This mentality accounts for the fact that two weeks before the presidential elections on November 2, Bush is running neck and neck with his Democratic opponent John Kerry in public opinion polls. It also explains why Bush can feel free to insult the intelligence of the American people by repeatedly boasting that the world is now a safer place with Saddam Hussein in prison and that freedom and democracy are on the march in Iraq. It is amazing, in fact, that even now Bush and his supporters seem pathologically unable to recognise the monumental blunder he committed in Iraq, that as Commander in Chief he sent US troops into harm's way by launching an incompetently planned pre-emptive war on that Middle East country for totally fraudulent reasons. Indeed, the popularity Bush still commands grows more bizarre with the ever mounting death toll of American soldiers occupying that hapless and devastated land. As part of Bush's vaunted war on terrorism, the misadventure in Iraq has provided instead a ready-made arena for terrorists to wage a deadly guerrilla war against American personnel and all those associated with them. More than 1,000 US soldiers have been slaughtered in this idiotic conflict, a death toll for which Bush should be held personally responsible, but instead of this his popularity is soaring!

And who knows, the Commander might even win the coming elections! But outside observers now have a dramatic insight into the mindset that produces what Grahame Greene has called the ugly American. In Bush, the cowboy president, the world can see a classic example. And grow more cynical about the fervent commitment in that country to the great traditions, values and principles that make America unique and strong. The religious right, the born-again believers, the energetic moralists who are the most fanatic flagwavers in the US are staunchly behind their President, although the Christian scriptures that shape their faith and their beliefs declare emphatically: Blessed are the peacemakers. Not warmongers. Has the Iraqi nightmare brought home to them the wisdom of that scriptural injunction? Apparently not. In true patriotic fashion, Americans enthusiastically proclaim their support for their fighting men abroad. But what do US soldiers serving in Iraq think about their invasion and occupation of that country? Their views can be found in Michael Moore's book which is a collection of letters from soldiers writing to their families back home.

The picture these letters create is one of widespread disenchantment and personal opposition to the war and the anguish of soldiers at being deceived by their Commander in Chief into fighting a misconceived and unnecessary war. Their pain is intensified by knowing that Bush himself evaded enlistment in the military by joining the National Guard. Last week their "enthusiasm" for the war was exemplified in the refusal of a reserve army unit, responsible for transporting food, water and fuel for US forces, to carry out their duties. The troops told their families they considered the mission too dangerous since their vehicles were in poor shape and they did not have adequate armed escort. One platoon member, Amber McClenny, appealed to her mother in a desperate telephone call: "This is a real, real big emergency. I need you to contact someone. I mean, raise pure hell." The Commander in Chief is responsible for the "pure hell" in Iraq. But Americans hail him as a heroic terrorist fighter. By now we should understand why.

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