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Lame or dead duck! Published on February 13, 2007 Ronald Reagan left Washington in a style. He told in a final radio broadcast to the nation that the American economy is booming, and then flew to California with the highest popularity ratings of any president since World War II. Recent White House port deal failure which was also opposed by Republican supporters made Bush not a lame but a dead duck. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert told Bush that they had the votes to not only kill the deal, but overturn his threatened veto of any legislation derailing the deal. President Bush has been battered by one adversity after another. He just can�t seem to find grip for his second-term agenda. The war on terror champion was totally rejected by more than 80% Americans and most members of the House of Representatives on his own created security issues to hand over six American sea ports to Dubai Port Authority. The big lie eventually catches up with his administration. Bush knows this very well that Dubai wants the port deal in order to make money. But since he has spent so much time fulminating against shadowy and sinister forces over there somewhere, he has spooked the American public and members of his own party. The Social Security and the new Medicare prescription drug program have been evaporated from the Bush second term agenda. The bad news has been coming in waves, from Iraqi regime change then to WMD, furors over Hurricane Katrina, the people in New Orleans who are dying of thirst, starvation and the need for medical care, warrantless wiretapping, Dick Cheney�s hunting accident, withdrawal of Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, growing civil strife in Iraq, Iran nuclear enrichment problem and now the Republican revolt over the administration�s Dubai port decision and many more. The Senate Budget Committee passed a budget resolution that dropped Bush's proposals for tax relief, expanded health savings accounts and Medicare cuts. Recent budgets have not included the full costs of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. These are presented as add-ons in requests for supplemental appropriations after the formal budget has been presented to Congress. Larger deficits would demand debt growing faster than GDP and rising interest burden on the federal budget. If this coercion were met with more borrowing, the problem would worsen with each passing year. It seems the current tax and spending policies will increase the debt burden quickly over the coming years. Republicans are not willing to give Bush the benefit of the doubt as they did before. The real irrationality is that Congress does seem to realize that Dubai Company�s management of America's ports is just a taste of what is coming. Perhaps greater foreign ownership of U.S. assets is an inevitable consequence of the reckless tax-cutting, deficit fiscal policies that the White House and Congress have followed. Their policy encourage the United States to consume more than it produces, which have diverged in imports so fast that the nation is nearing a trillion-dollar annual trade deficit. Bush deep in the problem with Iraq and Iran. The elections in the Palestine, Iran or Iraq legitimized the rule of fanatics and confirming the ethnic and religious dominance that exist within the Middle East. There is the considerable influence of religious fundamentalism within the region. American public, media and military professionals privately admit that the present administration fails to recognize the danger as Iraq plunges into an irreversible civil war. In US news media seems to be rehearsing its audience for failure in Iraq. The basic concept is to keep the people distracted and arguing over whether there is civil war in Iraq, perhaps nobody will notice that Americans are in the midst of a Republican and Democratic war here in the mainland. Some analysts believe that civil war and resulting chaos in Iraq will make a good excuse for US to stay there, kill the insurgents and poison the environment. The worst thing could be a stable democratic Iraqi government would be asked US to leave immediately. Iran nuclear program is an ardent issue of the world especially for neocons. Let�s we see what US did for Pakistan. US tolerated Pakistan�s support for Kashmiri militants, Taliban regime and the development of nuclear bomb. Dr. Qadeer Khan and four others have accepted that they were involved in leaking nuclear know-how to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Then what�s wrong with Iran? It is not Pakistan but Musharraf remained a trusted ally of the US. Fighting a bodyless �war on terror� entity with boots on the ground is getting tiring. Look, army generals play a military game while terrorist plays a media game. The absence of any foremost Arab nation Iran becomes a regional Islamic power. When you proceed a false premise whatever, you do will not make things right. Washington has lost its credibility in handling properly this type of case since the invasion of Iraq. A military intervention against Iran would result immediate dissociation of the world public opinion. The rising cost of oil will force China oppose this option. However, without UN should add a severe military and diplomatic crisis to the economic and financial crisis. US is going to face another economical challenge from Iran which has the overwhelming support of Europe and Muslim countries. At the end of March 2006, Iran is opening an Oil Bourse priced in Euros bringing the end of the Dollar monopoly on the world oil market. Definitely it will shake-up the global currency market as oil producing countries will be able to charge their production in Euros too. Ultimately European countries will be able to buy oil directly in their own currency. The American invasion to Baghdad was a fine military maneuver; however, in the long run it is a small act in much greater play. I don�t know what will happen when China and Russia enter the game. Perhaps it will start as conventional or escalate further is anyone�s guess. The vitality and viability of democracy in the Middle East has been quivered to its foundations by these events. The peace and stability appears to some extent profoundly naive right now. The success of Bush doctrine is often suffocated by the presence of pragmatism. Huge percentage of US soldiers, National Guards and resources are far away working hard and giving lives in Iraq; moreover, what else left for US mainland or any other catastrophe? Momtaz Ahmed |
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