Gulf News, On more than one occasion since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush has denied his “war on terror” is aimed at Islam. He has visited mosques, invited Muslim leaders to the White House and praised Islam as a religion of peace. But few Muslims are convinced of his sincerity or goodwill.
This is because many contrary indications suggest that Bush, and more particularly the neo-conservatives now setting the pace in Washington, conceive of their struggle as a global conflict between the forces of “democracy” and the “enemies of freedom”, between “civilisation” and “barbarism”, between the West and Islam.
The question must be posed: Are the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the world-wide terrorist manhunts, no more than the early skirmishes of a prolonged war between the world's only superpower and the world's fastest-growing religion? Bush has hinted the war could last a generation, like the religious wars of past centuries and that victory might take “one day, one month, one year, or one decade.” Echoing his messianic rhetoric, Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair has vowed to “finish the job”, however long it takes. Between the two of them, we seem to be promised war without end.
No one doubts the United States is the most powerful country in history. Bush has signed the 2004 military budget of over $400 billion, greater than the combined military budgets of all other major powers. The $87 billion recently approved for US military operations and reconstruction in Afghanistan and Iraq is an additional item! America's “global military footprint” dwarfs that of every earlier empire, including the British Empire at its peak. Thousands of US troops, supported by formidable air forces and navies, armed with strategic and tactical nuclear weapons, and the latest conventional weapons, are stationed at major bases in 35 foreign countries.
Unequalled military power
Living in the shadow of this colossus, it is only fair to ask how the US intends to use its unequalled military power. For people worried about the spreading violence and disorder in the world, it is today's most important question. The short answer is that the US intends to impose its will by force, by coercion, rather than by persuasion or mutual accommodation.
Over recent years, a few things have become clear about American objectives which can be summarised by saying that in the ongoing Washington power struggle, the Pentagon has triumphed over both the State Department and the Treasury. America's militaristic and unilateralist foreign policy has been set by Pentagon hawks, aided by their friends in the Vice-President's office and in the National Security Council, and cheered on by Washington's myriad right-wing, pro-Israeli think-tanks. Moderate voices have been silenced, swept aside or been forced to toe the line.
What then are the main aims of Bush's foreign and security policy? It is evident the US wants to use its power to achieve global dominance, and to retain it for the future. It has declared it intends to prevent the emergence of any rival. It wants a “unipolar” world order dominated by itself, rather than the “multipolar” world countries such as France, Germany, Russia and China prefer, where compromise and accommodation is necessary.
From this perspective, America's “war on terror” seems little more than a cover for its avowed intention of global dominance. It is a conclusion drawn from the fact that countries targeted for American hostility are chosen not because they sponsor terror but because they refuse to acquiesce.
The members of Bush's “axis of evil”
