Buencamino does foreign and political affairs analysis for Action for Economic Reforms. This article was published in newspaper Today, 28 September 2004 edition, p. 11.
He has plenty of money and unlimited personal cheapness. – JIMMY BRESLIN
I expected President George W. Bush to denounce the terrorists whomassacred innocent children in Beslan because he has always maintainedthere is no excuse for terrorism. He rebukes anybody whodares describe Iraqi or Palestinian terrorism within the context of astruggle for self-determination and freedom from foreign occupation.His gang never tires of repeating the mantra, “terrorismshould be de-contextualized.”
Yet, The Sunday Herald of London quoted the executive director ofAmericans for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC), a front organization for Bush’scabal of neo-conservative advisers, defending the Chechen terrorists.
He said, “This is a very brutal war, there have been knocks in thenight, and people have disappeared. It’s an endless cycle of violencein which everyone has lost their sanity. It is not surprising theChechens have resorted to the same level of violence.” Furthermore, hecontextualized the Beslan bloodbath as, ” not about terrorism but aboutethnic nationalism.”
So much for excusing and “de-contextualizing” terror. Bush and companydid it and they transformed child murderers into heroes of the Chechenpeople’s struggle against Russian oppression. Imagine Putin reactingthat way to 911.
I expected Bush to applaud Putin for announcing he was takingextraordinary measures to finishoff the terrorists in Chechnya. Bushhimself asked the US Congress for some extraordinary powers to dealwith terrorists. When he got what he wanted, he went to workimmediately, denying thousands of suspects the right to due process,protection from unreasonable searches and seizure of property, and theright toprivacy. Yet, Bush had no compunction about reminding Putin not tostray from the path of democracy in his fight against terror.
His house Negro, Colin Powell, said, “We understand the need to fightagainst terrorism, but in an attempt to go after terrorists I think onehas to strike a proper balance to make sure that you don’t move in adirection that takes you away from the democratic reforms or thedemocratic process” Imagine Putin saying the exact same thingabout Bush wielding his extraordinary powers.
Is there a double standard in Bush’s war on terror? None whatsoever.Chechnya, like Iraq, is purely an oil war. The US has been fightingRussia for hegemony over the Caucasus ever since the collapse of theUSSR, because control of that region means control over the flow of oilfrom the Caspian oilfields to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Bushshouldn’t be criticized for pursuing a legitimate national goal.
Oil is the lifeblood of the industrialized world and every industrialized country wants to control it.
The problem is not the competition, but the way it is going—onecontender, like Hitler, thinks he can win by drawing from an unlimitedsupply of personal cheapness.
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