The University of Vermont's Independent Voice Since 1883

The Vermont Cynic

The University of Vermont's Independent Voice Since 1883

The Vermont Cynic

The University of Vermont's Independent Voice Since 1883

The Vermont Cynic

Bush Has the Axis of Evil All Wrong

As the Olympic games began, President Bush, sitting amongst the athletes, picked up a cellular phone and spoke to a figure skater’s mother. He wished her daughter good luck. When leaving, the skater asked the president if he would attend any competitions. He said no: I have a war to fight. Unfortunately for Bush, the world has its eyes on Salt Lake and not the Caspian Sea. I know he’s disappointed. He has to share his spotlight with skaters. But when the spotlight comes back to him, get ready for Bush to look a little uglier. Why? His axis of evil is backwards. It’s not Iraq, Iran and North Korea but an endless war, Enron, and the economy that should scare us more. About the war, Europe is starting to quiver. Joschka Fischer, the German foreign minister, had to remind the Bush administration that alliance partners are not satellites (those who accuse me of being USSResque best look in the mirror). Hubert V??drine, the French foreign minister, called the American war strategy simplistic. Chris Patten, the European Union’s commissioner for external affairs, warned of US unilateralist overdrive. The Economist even says things are fraying badly across the Atlantic. Bush’s response? More say for the insane, Pentagon’s number two man Paul Wolfowitz. Hawk doesn’t do him justice, said a one-time associate. What about velociraptor? He is the mad imperialist who believes that the US has the right to end states. Bush is moving in his direction. His two biggest loves: missiles and talk of invading Iraq. But to invade Iraq would be insane. Not only would it cause the deaths of millions of innocent Iraqis (remember they are not all Sadams who, by the way, was our close ally not too long ago), but it would be the death blow for any alliance against terrorism. Not only would it further Bush’s career as the biggest recruiter for terrorism, but it would also ensure the collapse of any cooperation for a just anti-terror campaign. (and I further the claims of Denis Halliday, formerly of the UN, that the current sanctions on Iraq are terror in themselves). But Bush might decide Wolfowitz is right. The other evils, Enron and the economy, might make him. As Ken Lay (Kenny Boy to W) refused to testify against Enron, the entire house of cards that the so-called miracle economy was built on – speculation, lies, debt and increased exploitation – began to wobble. With Bush’s economy, we are learning the only thing we have to fear is not fear itself but the high-level corruption that could leave us penniless, pension-less and without any safety net. But Bush does not want to go the way of his daddy who the righties all say ended his war too soon (we should have ended it with the nuking of Paris, I guess). We need to build strong activism on the ground that says No to further war and Justice for those responsible for Enron and the victims of the recession.

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Bush Has the Axis of Evil All Wrong