Hi Kris: I hope you find this interesting. Feel free to post it on CTRL.org. And congratulations to you and Daniel H. for publishing Barry and the Boys. Best, Rich The following is a first draft of a longer paper in progress on U. S. foreign policy under President Bush. The Boy Who Cried Wolfowitz: The New President's Bush League Foreign Policy So where's the humility? The early pronouncements of the new Bush administration of a foreign policy marked by humility has failed to materialize. In fact, just the opposite appears to be happening. On January 2nd, Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said the new President wanted advisers on his foreign policy team who believe America must play a humble role in the world. Despite that statement, in every important area of policy formulation, the imprimatur of Paul Wolfowitz's unmistakably aggressive posturing for global hegemony has emerged. The new Deputy Defense Secretary is the author of an infamous memorandum that describes his foreign policy vision for the next century. The goal outlined in his paper is to prevent the emergence of any potential rivals to US global domination. It encourages aggressive measures to reduce the power of regional rivals and render impotent the military threat from any other country or block of nations so they are incapable of challenging the authority of the only remaining superpower. This may be wise policy but it is not consistent with what was advertised by Fleischer back in January. The addition of other national security hawks on the Bush team such as Vice President Cheney, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, Deputy Secretary of State Armitrage, United Nations Ambassador Negroponte as well as National Security Avsiser Rice and Secrerary of State Powell are clear signs that Wolfowitz's perspective is the one that most reflects the President's views. A close look at the first 2 months bears this out. The President of South Korea, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has been told to cool it with respect to negotiating better relations with the North and is chastized for opposing National Missle Defense. Regarding the delicate situation with China, Taiwan is soon to receive new enhanced armaments that have the PRC seeing "red" and renewing their threats of invasion. Russia has been slandered for its concern that NMD, NATO expansion, putting down the Chechen insurrection, selling arms, turmoil in the Balkans and attempting to compete for Caspian oil has upset the White House leaders. In the Balkans, humility is completely invisible as the CIA trained KLA expands its pursuit of a Greater Albania by taking the fight into Southern Serbia and Macedonia. Rather than withdrawing from the region as intimated during the campaign or taking any responsibility for the dastardly bombing of Serbia with depleted uranium, Bush and his advisers continue to heap blame on the latest scapegoat for US aggression by supporting the arrest of "war criminal" Milosevic. Their shamelessness extends to conditioning aid to Kostunica's struggling regime on cooperation with the ICTY funded by George Soros and other Westerners with serious conflicts of interest. Any search for evidence of restraint by the new President regarding the Middle East also leaves much to be desired. The continued bombing of Iraq at a time of considerable international pressure for an end to sanctions is anything but humble. Giving the newly elected prime minister of Israel a green light to pursue his propensity to punish the Palestinians with massive firepower is the opposite of what some (including a majority of the Security Council and the Secretary General of the UN) feel is appropriate. The recent US veto of the resolution to place an observer force in the battle zone reflects hubris rather than humility. Any doubt as to the intensity of commitment to enforce the hegemonic designs foretold several years ago in the infamous Wolfowitz memorandum can readily be seen in 2 seemingly minor and little noticed incidents. The first involves the anger expressed toward Columbia for its sponsoring the UN resolution on the Middle East observer force. The administratin was so upset that it threatened future retaliation against the country it is currently supporting in its war against drug dealers. The other matter involves the threat to withdraw Czech sponsorship of an upcoming NATO meeting planned for next year because of disputed language in a draft human rights resolution regarding Cuba. This is more evidence of arrogance and an imperialistic mind-set rather than the low-key approach we were promised. And there is more, much more. Unilateral withdrawal from the Kyoto Accord has outraged much of Europe as well as many other nations. The clear indication to abrogate (again, unilaterally) the ABM treaty in order to pursue Rumsfeld's Space Force and NMD scenario are clear signs that the Wolfowitzian vision prevails at the highest levels of this administration. Entertaining Chechen separatist leaders at a time of terrorist attacks in Russia only add to the sense of estrangement that has been increasing in recent months. Virtually all of Islam and the Arab world are outraged at the one-sided support of the US for Israel. India is inching closer to Russia and China because of US policies and much of South America remains resistent to western commercial domination. Even Japan is getting tired of our presence nearly 60 years following their defeat during WWII. Expanding Plan Columbia to the Andean Initiative is yet another key indicator that George W. Bush is clearly "the boy who cried wolfowitz" in his effort to reshape the post Cold War era he recently inherited from his father and Bill Clinton. It remains to be seen if this will be an excerise in futility rather than humility. Whether Bush Jr will succeed in establishing the NWO first hinted at by his Dad following the Gulf War remains to be seen. Irrespective of the wisdom of this plan, it is incumbent on the new leadership to be more forthright in expressinng its true agenda. Although things have changed enormously since Washington warned the young republic to avoid foreign entanglements, his words, and the event more prescient words of Pres Eisenhower "to beware of the militry-industrail complex", require that President Bush provide the citizens of this nation a far greater degree of transparency in his plans for our future dealings with the rest of the planet. His failure to do so is leading to a reinvigorated image of the Ugly American. Only an informed and aroused public can prevent the tragedy of imperialistic over-reach we saw during the Viet Nam period. An alternative to the Wolfowiz vision of domination must be one of compassion and tolerance for diversity in the context of an empowered global citizenry operating under the rule of law with an energized and effective United Nations. The new President's plan to build a t-ball field on the White House lawn reflects an antiquated vision of what is appropriate for America's future. Seeing to it that Congress passes payment of the UN dues and showing a reluctance to impose its views on other nations is far less Bush leage than the "Field of Dreams" nightmare inspired by his current crop of colleagues. The real possibility that the US will become the dreaded evil empire most be prevented. A better vision of world peace than the one being advocated and implemented needs to be written if we are to avoid another round of war and exploitation. As a critic of recent American foreign policy I will attempt to do so in subsequent articles. The author, a 1971 graduate of Harvard Law School, is a political activist focusing on US foreign policy and national security issues. Comments and suggestions are welcomed. Copyright @ Richard H. Scheck, 2001 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/?.refer=text
