Untitled Document
The right-wing, pro-war position of the Democratic Party was on full
display Tuesday as the party leadership presented a new report that criticizes
the Bush administration for failing to adequately defend the interests of American
militarism.
Over the past several weeks, top Bush administration officials have given a
series of speeches marking the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
These speeches, laced with historical falsifications and other lies, have been
designed to intimidate opponents of the war in Iraq, castigating them as appeasers
of a new fascistic ideology.
The response from the Democratic Party is to argue that they, not the Republicans,
are the more consistent proponents of American “national security”
and “defense,” i.e., domestic repression and war. From the Democratic
Party there has been no criticism of the basic line of the administration, which
has used the pretext of the September 11 attacks to escalate a policy of neo-colonialism,
particularly in the Middle East. Rather, the Democrats are seeking to argue
that they will be better at prosecuting the “war on terror” by confronting
supposed threats like Iran and North Korea.
These views were outlined in “The Neo Con: The Bush Defense Record by
the Numbers,” written by Sharon Burke and Harlan Geer for an organization
called The Third Way National Security Project. The Third Way is a group set
up to provide a “progressive” gloss to right-wing policies. Burke
is director of the National Security Project and was a speechwriter for the
Department of Defense under the Clinton administration.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid endorsed
the report—a fact that makes clear that the policy it outlines corresponds
to the official line of the Democratic Party. It was released formally at a
press conference that included Reid, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, General
Wesley Clark, and Burke.
The general attitude of the Democrats is made clear from the very beginning
of the report, which cites approvingly comments from William Kristol, one of
the leading ideological figures behind the militarism of the Bush administration.
It quotes Kristol as declaring: “North Korea is firing missiles. Iran
is going nuclear. Somalia is controlled by radical Islamists. Iraq isn’t
getting better, and Afghanistan is getting worse...I give the president a lot
of credit for hanging tough on Iraq. But I am worried that it has made them
too passive in confronting the other threats.”
This is more or less the position that the Democrats are staking out.
The occupation of Iraq—or rather, the way this occupation is being carried
out—is preventing the US government from dealing with more “pressing”
problems, particularly Iran. A new strategy is needed in Iraq, the Democrats
argue, in order to free the military to deal with these other problems.
“The number of terrorist attacks and recruits are up worldwide,”
the report declares, “many of our enemies are stronger; their reach is
greater; their weapons of mass destruction are more developed, plentiful and
available. At the same time, American influence with our allies has weakened:
our ‘friends’ are not with us in Iraq. And a prolonged and troop-intensive
war in Iraq has stretched the military and has left America less able to project
power in troublesome hot spots than before 9-11.”
On Iraq, the Third Way report highlights the crisis of the American occupation,
noting that the number of people killed—both Iraqis and American soldiers—is
rising. It declares that Iraq has become a “terrorist haven” that
is on the brink of “full-scale war.”
Burke and Geer do not present any alternative to the Bush administration’s
policy, and do not call for an end to the occupation. The main position being
advanced by the Democrats, however, is “strategic redeployment”—the
selective transfer of some troops to other areas of Iraq and the Middle East.
Other Democrats are floating the possibility of backing a partition of the country,
which would lead to violence and ethnic cleansing on a massive scale.
On Tuesday, the Bush administration continued to heighten threats against Iran,
releasing a new “National Strategy for Combating Terrorism” that
declares Iran to be the “most active state sponsor of international terrorism.”
In a speech on Tuesday, Bush sought to equate the government of Iran with Al
Qaeda and declared, “The world’s free nations will not allow Iran
to develop a nuclear weapon.”
There is every reason to believe that the Bush administration is preparing
for some sort of military strike against Iran. What will be the Democratic Party’s
response? They would lend crucial support to such an intervention. The Third
Way report criticizes the Bush administration from the right on Iran, denouncing
it for having “outsourced the task of containing Iran’s nuclear
program to the Europeans and the UN.”
The Bush administration “has been unsuccessful in restraining Iran,”
it declares. “At best, Iran is using its nuclear ambition to blackmail
western powers into meeting Iranian demands for economic acceptance and political
influence. At worst, it is determined to possess these weapons to establish
itself as the leader of the Islamic world.”
The report also includes a section on China, in which it states, “We
may be losing a potential partner and gaining a serious rival.” China
has become “a powerful regional power broker, often acting against the
interests of America in the areas of North Korea and Iran,” as well as
South America and Africa. If the US were to take military action against Iran
or North Korea and this led to a confrontation with China, these statements
are a clear indication that the Democrats would support it.
One of the principal aims of the Democrats is to garner the support of a section
of the military that has become increasingly disaffected with the Bush administration,
and particularly Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Leading Democrats have in
recent days renewed calls for the Bush administration to replace Rumsfeld. The
disaffection comes from sections of the military brass that are deeply worried
that the military as an institution has been severely undermined. Recruitment
is sharply down. Morale is at all-time lows. Large sections of the military
are committed to the occupation of Iraq, making it difficult for US imperialism
to pose a credible threat to other countries.
“Our superiority is unquestioned,” the Third Way report declares.
“But over the past four years, the President has stretched the military
to a crisis point.” The report cites many statistics that document this
crisis. A new strategy is needed, the authors conclude, to renew the strength
of American militarism.
One potential answer to what is seen by the Democrats as inadequate troop strength
is the reintroduction of the draft, a possibility that was suggested by Representative
John Murtha on Tuesday. Murtha is known for his close ties to sections of the
military.
Nowhere within the Third Way report, or in any of the comments of leading Democrats,
is there any discussion of the real aims of the war in Iraq and the threats
of war against Iran—namely, the seizure of oil and other natural resources
to give the American ruling class an advantage against potential rivals, including
China. There is no mention of these aims because the Democratic Party accepts
them and agrees with them.
The right-wing position being advanced by the Democrats comes at a time when
polls indicate that two-thirds of the population is against the war in Iraq.
The Democrats are once again demonstrating that they are incapable of appealing
to this sentiment. They have no desire to run in the November elections on the
basis of antiwar sentiment, since this would create expectations that, being
loyal defenders of the interests of American imperialism, they would be unwilling
to fulfill.
___________________________
Read from Looking Glass News
The
Top 10 Corporate Democrats-For-Hire
Hillary
Clinton outlines Democrats’ big business agenda
The
biggest con: Democrats & Republicans work together to destroy America, part
1 of 3
The
biggest con: Democrats & Republicans work together to destroy America, part
2 of 3
The
biggest con: Democrats & Republicans work together to destroy America, part
3 of 3
Dems
and integrity, the moon and green cheese -- detect a pattern here?
Wall
Street Dems Unveil Plans to Undermine the Progressive Movement
Democrats
unveil midterm election platform: a blueprint for endless war
The
"best" of the Democrats
The
big con: Democrats vs Republicans
Hillary
and Wal-Mart: A Love Story
Who's
the Bigger Hawk, George or Hillary?