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Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Two Speeches; World Still Screwed

If you've been reading my blog for long, you know that the World Socialist Web Site is one of my favorite sources for news and commentary. Today, they've got a good one-two punch; a critique of Kerry's speech Monday and Bush's speech Tuesday.

From the first:
The publication of editorials in influential newspapers and statements by key Republican senators signified that an official debate of the Bush administration’s conduct of the war is now being sanctioned by the political establishment. Having received this authorization, Kerry proceeded to deliver what amounts to, within the framework of bourgeois politics, a comprehensive condemnation of the policies of the Bush administration.
...
The essential content of this [Kerry's] indictment is that the president lied to the American people and that support for the decision to launch the invasion of Iraq was based on lies. But Kerry avoided the obvious conclusion that a war justified on the basis of lies lacks all legal foundation and must be opposed. Rather, Kerry developed his argument along very different lines.

Directing himself not to the broad mass of people who oppose the American occupation of Iraq, but to the ruling elite, Kerry developed his criticism of Bush to make the case for change in the political leadership of the war.

"At home," Kerry warned, "the American people are less likely to trust this administration if it needs to summon their support to meet real and pressing threats to our security."

Implied in this statement is that the Bush administration lacks the political credibility to mobilize public support should it become necessary to take more drastic measures to avoid defeat in Iraq or conduct other military operations—measures such as the reintroduction of the draft.

Far from representing the antiwar sentiments of millions of working people, Kerry’s speech is aimed at convincing the ruling class that his candidacy offers a means of avoiding disaster in Iraq.

The Kerry speech does not represent a repudiation of the war by the Democratic Party, but rather a proposal for its more effective prosecution.
From the second article, on Bush's speech:
President Bush’s address to the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday, together with a speech by his Democratic challenger in New York City a day earlier, provide a clear warning that the US policy of global military aggression will continue, no matter which of the two big business parties wins the November election.
...
The message, however, was essentially unchanged—a warning to the countries of the world that any one of them could be the next target for an unprovoked US "preventive war."

There was something obscene about the unelected US president, responsible for two aggressive wars and an unprecedented attack on civil liberties in the US itself, lecturing the world about "freedom," "democracy," "peace" and the "rule of law."

Bush's abuse of these terms can only be described as Orwellian. "Freedom" means submission to US domination; "democracy," the acceptance of a Washington-imposed puppet state; and the "rule of law," the subordination of all to the strategic interests of American capitalism.