Foreign policy in Bush's White House

To put it mildly it has been a tumultuous three years and no end in sight of its slowing down. Almost at the outset took place the now famous 9/11. These two figures have become so universally known that it has entered into everybody's mind as the high drama of attack on the Twin Towers of New York and Pentagon in Washington D.C. and a near miss on the White House on 11 September 2001.

This was the beginning of the high profile activities of President Bush. The spectacle of the Twin Towers melting like chocolate in a blazing sun and President Bush running for cover was played out in front of the whole world. The US lost her lone superpower status. The world was shaken to its foundation. President Bush had to strike back in order to recover even a semblance of her great power. Afghanistan was selected as the target. There lived the mastermind of the first ever attack on US soil -- Osama Bin Laden. He was the guest of Molla Omar, the leader of the Taliban regime, reviled and shunned by the entire world for its obscurantist antics. The nearest neighbour of Afghanistan was Pakistan, whose military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf had been ostracised by the international community because he had ousted an elected governent. The champion of democracy worldwide, the US, rapidly mended fences with Pakistan in exchange of Pakistan's whole hearted support in the destruction of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Afghanistan was mercilessly bombed and bombs rained on the Taliban many of whom were Pakistanis trained by the shadowy outfit ISI! In Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, who lived in the US was installed as the new ruler. Meanwhile the raison d'etre of the bombing campaign, which was targeted against Bin Laden, has been forgotten for Bin Laden was nowhere to be found in the rocky mountains.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

Afghanistan was a small fish. There was a great deal of hobnobbing between President Bush and his recent mentor, Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel. Bush was nearly surrounded in the White House by friends of Israel. Israel wanted to play the policeman on behalf of President Bush in the Middle East. The largest power in the Arab world, Egypt, had been effectively silenced through the Camp David Peace Accord of 1979. The only real obstacle for Israel was Iraq. Israel had bombed the nuclear installations near Baghdad in 1981.

President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair launched a world wide campaign that President Saddam Hussein of Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction. Ten years ago the father of present President, President Bush Sr had built a coalition against Saddam Hussein of Iraq in order to oust him from his occupation of Kuwait. Since it was a clear case of vacation of Iraqi aggression the coalition was easily built. In that coalition Saudi Arabia and Turkey, two neighbours of Iraq played the leading role by cutting Iraqi pipelines, which carried Iraqi oil to the world market. This time around the two close allies of the US refused to play the ball inspite of the threats and cajoling of Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Defence Secretary of the US. In the case of Turkey the idea was that US and her allies including Turkey would enter Iraq from the north and drive towards Baghdad.

Inspite of these failures and frustrations, US and Britain launched a totally unprovoked war against Iraq and faced with this massive firepower, Iraqi forces could only disappear from the scene. On May 1 last President Bush declared the war as over. Yet it was far from over. If the Iraqis were unable to meet a frontal attack they have proved themselves highly adept at guerilla warfare. More than 500 US soldiers have died, a number higher than in the battlefield. The casualties mount daily.

The news from the battle field has been replaced by dramatic developments in Washington D.C. and London. The spectacle is that of an embattled President Bush and Prime Minister Blair. They are both accused of doctoring intelligence reports, whose authors strenuously claim that they never wrote in their reports of an imminent threat from Saddam Hussein. In the meantime Tony Blair got involved in an unseemly wrangle with the BBC and thanks to the report of Lord Hutton Blair has been cleared. Yet this matter of mounting an all out attack on Iraq on the basis of intelligence reports refuses to go away.

If the Iraq crisis has totally entangled President Bush, he has paid scant attention to the most important question of the Middle East -- Palestine-Israel conflict. It is admitted by all that in the light of the fact that US is the only protector of Israel, it is she alone who can make Israel see reason in her dispute with her Arab neighbours beginning with Palestine. The only way the US can play a meaningful role in the Palestine-Israel dispute is by a total even handedness. The predecessor of President Bush, President Bill Clinton had established himself as a complete impartial referee between the two sides and had brought them very close to a settlement. It was the failure of the two leaders -- Yaser Arafat of Palestine and Ehud Barak of Israel that the chances of peace slipped away. On the prodding of Sharon President Bush refused to deal with the elected leader of the Palestinians, Yasser Arafat, thus destroying any possibility of a negotiated settlement.

As Bush White House hurtles from crisis to crisis, he has to face his voters come November. The opposition camp, the Democrats have started targeting on the failures of the Bush Foreign policy. One of the most glaring is dividing the Atlantic Alliance by cooling relations with such longtime allies as France and Germany. They refused to give President Bush the authorisation by the Security Council to use force against Iraq. Hard on the heels of these misfortunes is the revelation that Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan had been passing nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. The scientist has admitted his guilt as the lone operator. In the tightly controlled regime like Pakistan it is hard to imagine how the scientist could have so much power! He has asked for forgivenenss in a TV seession with President Musharraf and has been promptly pardoned. More to the point President Bush has shown remarkable understanding for his friend Musharraf! It would be interesting to see how President Bush handles his crusade regarding proliferation of nuclear weapons.

The elections are knocking at the door of the White House. At present showing the challenger to Bush appears to be the Vietnam war hero, John Kerry. He has thrown himself in the campaign with great gusto. He is talking even of putting the foreign policy back on the rails.

Father George Bush after his victory in Iraq faced Bill Clinton and lost the Presidency. Son Bush emerges from Iraq badly hurt. What fate the electors of the great democracy reserve for him?

Arshad-uz-Zaman is a former Ambassador.