 The issue isn't Obama, any more than it was Bush before him. The issue is US power
by Owen Jones
How easy it was to scrutinise US power when George W. Bush was in office.
| It was a simple time, for simple minds... |
After all, it was difficult to defend an administration packed with such repulsive characters, like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, whose attitude towards the rest of the world amounted to thuggish contempt.
| I wouldn't describe their contempt as 'thuggish'... |
Many will shudder remembering that dark era: the naked human pyramids accompanied by grinning US service personnel in Abu Ghraib;
| ...previously acknowledged to be a mistake committed by stupid soldiers and a lax general... |
the orange-suited prisoners in Guantanamo, kneeling in submission at the feet of US soldiers;
| ...pretty much what prisoners do if they're smart... |
the murderous assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah.
| ...which the hard boyz in that city asked for... |
By the end of Bush's term in office, favourable opinion of the US had plummeted even in allied countries,
| ...who now whine that the U.S. has turned against them and ignores them... |
and those desperate for a Republican rout in the presidential elections ranged from resolute socialists to committed Tories.
| ...happy now? No? Of course not, you're the type of folk who complain upon being hanged with a new rope... |
It was a bad dream that went on for eight years, and no wonder much of the world is still breathing a sigh of relief.
| Particularly Iran, China, Russia and Syria... |
But US foreign policy these days escapes scrutiny.
| It's also beaten logic to flinders... |
In part, that is down a well-grounded terror of the only viable alternative to Barack Obama: the increasingly deranged US right.
| That's us, baby, deranged, bwha-ha-ha... |
A deliberate shift to a softer, more diplomatic tone has helped, too.
| It makes it easier to hear Y'urp-peons whimper... |
But it is also the consequence of a strategic failure on the part of many critics of US foreign policy in the Bush era. As protesters marched in European cities with placards of Bush underneath "World's No 1 Terrorist", the anti-war crusade became personalised.
Bush seemed to be the problem, and an understanding of US power -- the nature of which remains remarkably consistent from president to president -- was lost.
| There are those who say that in many ways, Champ's foreign policy is just Bush-lite. Not so as evidenced by Iran, Syria, Libya, etc., but you have to be pretty far Left not to see the differences between the two men. |
This week, the UN's Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism, Ben Emmerson QC, demanded that the US allow independent investigation over its use of unmanned drones, or the UN would be forced to step in.
| Sure boys, step in. You'll be every bit as effective as you've been in Gazoo, Syria, Libya, Serbia, Bosnia, Rwanda, the Congo, and Haiti. We're just shaking in our boots... |
These drones target militants, it is claimed, but according to a study by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, between 282 and 585 civilians
| ...also known as 'camp followers'... |
have died in Pakistan as a result. In one such attack in North Waziristan in 2009, several villagers died in an attempt to rescue victims of a previous strike.
| It might be better for the 'civilians' to stay a discrete distance away from the hard boyz... |
According to Pakistan's US Ambassador, Sherry Rehman, the drone war "radicalises foot soldiers, tribes and entire villages in our region".
| No, Sherry-baby, they were pretty well 'radicalized' before the drones came flying overhead. But anytime you and your country want to step in and get control of the hard boyz, let us know, and we'll be happy to ground the drones a while to see how serious you are. |
After the latest strike this week, Pakistan's foreign ministry said the attacks were "a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity and are in contravention of international law".
| Pakistan isn't willing to control the jihadis, so it itself is contravening 'international law', and thus doesn't deserve any respect for its sovereignty... |
Its Parliament has passed a resolution condemning the drone war.
| See my reference above to 'shaking in our boots'... |
It is armed aggression by the Obama administration, pure and simple.
If it was happening under the Bush presidency, the opposition would be vociferous and widespread.
| We finally agree on something, but not for the reasons you think... |
But while there were 52 such strikes in Pakistan in eight years of Bush, there have been over 280 in three and a half years of Obama. Numbers have soared in Yemen and Somalia, too.
| Coincidentally where the hard boyz also are operating... |
Two months ago, former US President Jimmy Carter
| Worst U.S. president of the 20th century... |
described drone attacks as a "widespread abuse of human rights" which "abets our enemies and alienates our friends". He's not wrong: the Pew Research Center found just 7 per cent of Pakistanis had a positive view of Obama, the same percentage as Bush had just before he left office.
| You might ask what percentage of Americans have a positive view of Pakistan... |
But, in the West, Obama can get away with acts that Bush would rightly be pilloried for.
| Yep. That's one of our complaints, too... |
Indeed, he seems to think it's all a bit of a laugh: in 2010, he jokingly threatened the Jonas brothers with a Predator drone strike if they came near his daughters. How droll, Barack.
| You should see him around Speaker Boehner... |
Guantanamo was iconic of Bush's brutality, and after his election Obama signed executive orders mandating its closure. The camp remains open for business, pledged to take new "high-value" detainees if captured.
| If we closed Gitmo we'd simply open a camp at Ice Station Zebra... |
The same goes for Obama's pledge to shut down CIA-run "black site prisons" in Afghanistan. At least 20 secret temporary prisons remain in place, with widespread allegations of ill-treatment.
| By all means open a camp for them in Northern Ireland -- I believe you chaps have some useful experience in that regard... |
US involvement in a senseless, unwinnable war in the country -- ruled by a weak, corrupt government that stole the 2009 presidential election with ballot stuffing, intimidation and fraud -- continues.
| Biggest mistake Bush made was to enlarge the Afghan war in 2003 to engage in 'nation building'. There was no nation to build. Of course he made the mistake because he listened to Democrats, Europeans and the U.N. I'm hoping our next president is wiser than that... |
Under Obama, the US role in the Middle East remains as cynically wedded to strategic self-interest as ever.
| As opposed to Russian foreign policy, which is wedded to Russian .. er, self-interest... |
Despotic tyrannies like Saudi Arabia are armed to the teeth: in 2010, the US signed an arms deal with the regime worth $60bn, the biggest in US history.
| I do believe, old chap, that the Brits also sell a few arms to the House of Saud... |
Obama has resumed sales of military equipment to Bahrain's dictatorship as it brutally crushes protesters struggling for democracy.
| Or said another way, Iranian-sponsored Shi'a agitators... |
Last year, Saudi Arabia invaded Bahrain with tacit US support.
| Second instance we know of an Arab country staging a successful invasion in the Gulf, and the first that we didn't subsequently squash like a wormy apple. Moral of the story: always get our permission first... |
And even when the US-backed Mubarak dictatorship was on the ropes in Egypt, Obama's administration remained a cheerleader, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arguing that the "Egyptian Government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people".
| Mursi is the new Mubarak. It really doesn't matter who wins in these internal conflicts, so long as the winner knows to listen to what we have to say... |
Coupled with the US's ongoing failure to pressure Israel into accepting a just peace with the Palestinians,
| It took Owen three-fourths of an essay to play the Paleo card. The only 'just peace' the Paleos want, Owen, is Israel destroyed and the Joooz all dead. You'll have to pardon the Israelis for not offering their throats up to be cut... |
no wonder there is rising global anger at Obama.
| Since it's all his fault... |
But of course, the issue isn't Obama, any more than it was Bush before him. The issue is US power.
| Bwha-ha-ha. A little jealous, Owen? We have something you want? You think you'd know better how to use the power if only you had it? You're a character right out of The Children of Men, only more desperate for attention... |
But despite its best efforts -- and as menacing as it can be for Pakistani villagers and Bahraini democrats -- its power is in decline.
| First we were losing to the Soviets, then to the Japanese, then to the Europeans. We're presently losing to the Chinese. Watch us. |
The US share of global economic output was nearly a quarter in 1991; today, it represents less than a fifth. The financial crash has accelerated the ongoing drain in US economic power to the East.
| How's the Euro doing lately, Owen? How soon will the Brits be bailing out the Greeks, Spanish and Italians? |
Latin America, regarded as the US's backyard since the 1823 Monroe Doctrine claimed it for the US sphere of influence, is now dominated by governments demanding a break from the free-market Washington Consensus.
| With Venezuela and Ecuador failing and Argentina floundering? The countries doing best on that continent are the ones who are most like the U.S. -- Chile and Brazil. |
And the Iraq war not only undermined US military prestige and invincibility, it perversely boosted Iran's power in the Middle East.
| Only because Obama bungled the peace... |
With the last remaining superpower at its weakest since World War II,
| We might fail one day. Obama might succeed in dragging us down. Or someone after him. Just remember, Owen: when we go, you go. |
there is an unmissable opening to argue for a more equal and just world order, restricting the ability of Great Powers to throw their weight around. And a word of warning: if we don't seize this opportunity now, one superpower will simply be replaced by another -- and our world will be as unequal and unjust as ever.
| Learn to speak Mandarin, Owen, so that you and Tom Friedman can kowtow together... |
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