Taking radical responsibility to create a humanized world

Humanist, Sept-Oct, 2004 by Hans G. Despain

As the war in Iraq worsens, approval of George W. Bush fades, and criticism of his administration mounts, conservatives who supported Bush in 2000 are denouncing him today. Pat Buchanan, Christopher Layne, and Scott McConnell of the American Conservative, George Will of the Washington Post, Jeffery Hart of the National Review, and conservative political scientists such as John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, Stephen Walt of Harvard University, and Christopher Preble of the Cato Institute have all sharply criticized the Bush administration's handling of foreign policy. Hart and Mearsheimer, who both voted for Bush in 2000, have publicly announced their enthusiastic support in this election year not for Bush but for John Kerry. In October 2003 many of these prominent foreign policy conservatives helped form the Coalition for a Realistic Foreign Policy (CRFP) as a direct effort to oppose the foreign policy of the Bush administration and the direction it is leading the country.

The impact these conservative intellectuals have had so far on the forthcoming elections is negligible. According to a Time/CNN poll conducted shortly after the revelations in May of the abuses perpetrated by U.S. soldiers on Iraqi prisoners, Bush's approval rating for the first time during his presidency sank below his disapproval rating (46 percent versus 49 percent). Nonetheless the same polls have Kerry holding only a marginal lead over Bush.

In concert with CRFP, the Bush administration has lacked resolve, creativity, and action to properly confront the global conflicts that now face Americans. His administration arguably has failed to diminish terrorism and is certainly unable to contain it--and should also be condemned for augmenting the resolve of terrorists. At the same time the issues are complex and the right action quite perplexing. The uncertainty and the lack of a viable alternative have Americans seemingly unable to completely abandon Bush. Of the three most publicized alternatives, none are a clear improvement. Wesley Clark and Richard Clarke have merely emphasized that attention and military might must be directed toward al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Aside from his position on Iraq, it isn't clear that John Kerry's foreign policy will be much different than the current U.S. foreign policy. Worse, Kerry's "alternative" plan for Iraq (as published in the Washington Post) may be less defensible than Bush's. Kerry's plan calls for participation by the United Nations, which is unrealistic due to both UN unwillingness and lack of capability. What is most remarkable of all these policies is the lack of comprehensiveness. What these policies and the Bush foreign policy have in common is the reaction of violence.

Humanity finds itself in a desperately grave situation. Terrorism abounds and generates violent reactions to it. How are we to stop the repetitive cycle of human devestation, violence, war, and death? A more humanistic international order must be implemented. We must initiate an international policy that promotes humanistic principles, and we must make critical analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international economic policy over the last thirty years part of the public discourse concerning terrorism. According to several mid-June reports, the 9/11 Commission has made it clear that the hijack plot was in direct protest of U.S. policies in the Middle East and U.S. economic hegemony.

With respect to U.S. foreign policy there seems to be a particular historical amnesia, even in the most recent decades, and its record is far from peaceful. In 1975 the U.S. government began providing support to the Indonesian government's vicious campaign against the people of East Timor. In 1978 the Carter administration covertly sent arms to rebel forces in Afghanistan, arguably inducing Soviet military intervention. During the 1980s the Reagan administration participated in covert war throughout Central America. The first Bush administration continued military action in Central America with its invasion of Panama in 1989. In 1991 the U.S. invaded Kuwait and intensified its military presence in Saudi Arabia, constituting a major transgression for many Saudi Arabians, including Osama bin Laden. This isn't necessarily a condemnation of any of these particular overt or covert military actions. Rather the intention is to underscore the virtual absence of any acknowledgement by U.S. officials let alone rigorous debate within the public sphere of these interventions and their symbiotic relationship with the rise of terrorism.

With respect to U.S. international economic policy, it isn't merely historical amnesia but blatant ignorance and apathy that lie at the root of the severe uncertainty that plagues the U.S. citizens and their government on how best to develop a comprehensive response strategy. Economic crises characterize nations around the world. Poverty has worsened over the last twenty years. Debt of low-income countries grew by 544 percent between 1980 and 2000. Middle-income countries' debt increased by 481 percent during the same period.