Kerry's world-view and what if he is elected!

Yet, when 60-year old John Kerry in his fourth term in the Senate was formally nominated a candidate of the Democratic Party for White House incumbency at the party convention on July 30 in Boston it was a damper for both the Americans and a large part of international community whom he disappointed both with his style and pronouncements reflecting his world-view. With a tinge of frivolity in a mock military style Kerry, a war veteran, saluted the gathering and said that he was there at the convention "to answer the call to service" just as he had done when he volunteered for service in Vietnam -- immediately conjuring up the spectre of an unsavoury war before an war-weary audience.

However, in three months' time it would be clear whether Kerry was actually a bit too frivolous or whether he can be trusted with the destiny of the people in the US and in many other parts of the world. What matters most is whether he can bring the tumult created by the US itself in large parts of the world under control. Consequent upon the US' presidential election would the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan be brought to an end? The prospects do not seem exactly encouraging.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

While President Bush fails to realise that his war against Talibans in Afghanistan and against Saddam Hussain in Iraq had turned out to be an exercise in futility John Kerry is no less tempted to chase the mirage. Despite disclosures of Senate Intelligence Committee which establishes that his (Bush) suspicions about the presence of the weapons of mass destruction was altogether baseless, President Bush is adamant that his going to war against Iraq had been fully justified -- and so had been his war also against Afghanistan.

Indeed a great deal of what John Kerry said in the party convention suggested that he was not against the war purse -- even if he disagrees with the method of conducting it. He was proud of having volunteered himself to serve in Vietnam -- the US' largest imperialist war of twentieth century.

He also acknowledged that he had a sense of pride and an excitement when he heard the "stars and stripes forever" (the US' military anthem) being played by an American band on a military train in Germany. He said that he learnt what it meant to be America at its best. He paid tribute to the generation that belonged to his forefathers for making America strong, for winning the World War II and then winning the cold war.

In his address at the democratic convention in the chilling part of it Kerry also made it known that if he becomes president of the US he would build a strong US military and add 40,000 active duty troops to strengthen American forces that are now overstretched, overextended and under pressure and would double the special forces to conduct anti-terrorist operation. John Kerry claimed that "after decades of experience in National Security he knew the reach of American power and the power of America ideals. Kerry who shares the American sense of power also promised to keep the most dangerous weapons in the world out of the most dangerous hands of the world" -- a constant refrain of the neo-con ideologies.

President Bush may not have used such sophisticated language but aren't all these what he was trying to convey in his own simplistic, unembellished and rather brazen way? Bush might have been naive in defining the rationale for his going to war both in Afghanistan and Iraq but a considerable section of Americans did not and perhaps still do not believe that the wars were totally unjustified -- the full house screaming of "Farenheit 9/11" notwithstanding. Clearly the world-views of the two contenders are tied neck and neck.

It's true that as a result of harsh and ham-handed manner in which Bush's post 9/11 policies have treated Afghanistan and Iraq in the name of war on terror he has done great deal of damage to peace and security as well as existing balance of power providing stability in the entire region of Middle East and Central Asia. The effect is going to be long lasting. John Kerry publicly known to be proved of winning wars is certain to be adamant about winning the war on terror. He will rather adopt a still more hard line in this regard and is just not about to retreat from the current intoxicating imperialist venture. It is therefore not certain that a well bred, sophisticated John Kerry wouldn't embroil America in another unnecessary war under another rubric like President Bush did after 9/11 and make America an increasingly scary and strange land.

Brig ( retd) Hafiz is former DG of BIISS.