US strategy builds on
'successes' By Bill Berkowitz
OAKLAND, California - US President George
W Bush issued his second-term National Security
Strategy on Thursday, a document outlining the
administration's strategy for using diplomatic,
economic and military tools to deal with global
challenges.
Ironically, the 47-page
document that outlines a series of "successes" and
"extraordinary progress in the expansion of
freedom, democracy and human dignity" since 2002
makes few references to the one issue that most
clearly defines the Bush
presidency: the war in Iraq.
However, it confirms that the United
States is involved in a long-term "war against
terrorism" - a war it believes it is winning -
considers preemptive strikes against countries
that might threaten the US, as outlined in 2002, a
legitimate response, and singles out Iran as the
country posing the "greatest challenge" to the US.
In a letter introducing the National
Security Strategy (NSS), Bush said: "The ideals
that have inspired our history - freedom,
democracy, and human dignity - are increasingly
inspiring individuals and nations throughout the
world ... We choose leadership over isolationism
and the pursuit of free trade and open markets
over protectionism.
"We choose to deal
with challenges now rather than leaving them for
future generations. We fight our enemies abroad
instead of waiting for them to arrive in our
country. We seek to shape the world, not merely be
shaped by it; to influence events for the better
instead of being at their mercy."
According to the White House, the NSS,
which "explains how we are working to protect the
American people, advance American interests,
enhance global security, and expand global liberty
and prosperity [rests] upon two pillars":
"The first pillar is promoting freedom,
justice, and human dignity - working to end
tyranny, to promote effective democracies, and to
extend prosperity through free and fair trade and
wise development policies.
"The second
pillar of the strategy is confronting the
challenges of our time by leading a growing
community of democracies."
The National
Security Strategy asserts that the "war on
terrorism" is a protracted struggle, and, "In the
short run, the fight involves using military force
and other instruments of national power to kill or
capture the terrorists, deny them safe haven or
control of any nation, prevent them from gaining
access to weapons of mass destruction, and cut off
their sources of support.
"In the long
run, winning the war on terror means winning the
battle of ideas, for it is ideas that can turn the
disenchanted into murderers willing to kill
innocent victims."
And in a nod toward a
possible strike against Iran, which was recently
referred to the United Nations Security Council
for refusing to abandon its nuclear program, the
NSS states that the US is "committed to keeping
the world's most dangerous weapons out of the
hands of the world's most dangerous people".
The report reinforces the importance of
the World Trade Organization's so-called Doha
Development Agenda, as well as regional and
bilateral free-trade agreements.
And it
calls for developing "agendas for cooperative
action with the other centers of global power".
According to the NSS, unlike the "ideological
struggles of the 20th century which saw the great
powers divided by ideology as well as by national
interest ... the struggle against militant Islamic
radicalism is the great ideological conflict of
the early years of the 21st century [which] finds
the great powers all on the same side - opposing
the terrorists".
"Given the goals of rogue
states and terrorists, the United States can no
longer solely rely on a reactive posture as we
have in the past," it asserts. "The inability to
deter a potential attacker, the immediacy of
today's threats, and the magnitude of potential
harm that could be caused by our adversaries'
choice of weapons do not permit that option. We
cannot let our enemies strike first."
The
release of the National Security Strategy comes at
a time when the Bush administration is being
buried by an avalanche of bad news, both at home
and abroad. Despite having launched yet another
series of speeches aimed at winning the US
public's support for his Iraq venture, the
president's poll ratings continue to plummet,
having recently hit the lowest numbers of his
presidency.
The administration has also
come under heavy fire from Congress for supporting
a now-collapsed deal that would have handed over
terminal operations at six US ports to a
Dubai-based company, giving an opening to
Democrats gearing up for the mid-term elections to
attack Bush on national security.
And a
poll released on Wednesday by the University of
Maryland's Program on International Policy
Attitudes found that just 28% of respondents were
confident that the US will succeed in its aims in
Iraq, down from 40% 18 months ago.
On
Monday, in remarks that appeared to disagree with
the assessments of other administration
spokespeople, Bush said, "By their response over
the past two weeks, Iraqis have shown the world
that they want a future of freedom and peace.
We're helping Iraqis build a strong democracy so
that old resentments will be eased and the
insurgency marginalized."
The NSS was
released only days after Knight Ridder News
Service pointed out that the US military has
"dramatically increased air strikes in Iraq during
the past five months, a change of tactics that may
foreshadow how the United States plans to battle a
still-strong insurgency while reducing the number
of US ground troops serving here".
On
Thursday, the Pentagon launched its largest air
campaign against the Iraqi insurgency since the
2003 invasion, targeting a "suspected insurgent
operating area" northeast of the city of Samarra
with more than 50 aircraft and 1,500 US and Iraqi
ground forces.
Earlier this week, General
John Abizaid, the army general overseeing US
military operations in Iraq, told a House of
Representatives subcommittee that he could not
rule out the possibility that the United States
would maintain a permanent military presence in
the country.
"Clearly our long-term vision
for a military presence in the region requires a
robust counter-terrorist capability," Abizaid told
the House subcommittee. "No doubt there is a need
for some presence in the region over time,
primarily to help people help themselves through
this period of extremists versus moderates."
Abizaid also pointed out that the United
States and its allies have a vital interest in the
oil-rich region. "Ultimately it comes down to the
free flow of goods and resources on which the
prosperity of our own nation and everybody else in
the world depend," he said.
In a speech on
Thursday to the US Institute of Peace, Stephen
Hadley, the president's national security adviser,
said: "The doctrine of preemption remains sound
and must remain an integral part of our
national-security strategy."
Hadley added,
"We do not rule out the use of force before the
enemy strikes."
