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Reagan Years May Give a Clue to Bush’s Future Actions (Abdulrahman Al-Rashid, 11/21/04, Arab News)

Following the 1991 American-led war to liberate Kuwait from Iraq, people in the Gulf used to joke about George Bush the father. They said if Bush was nearby, you could sleep soundly in your house. Now, in light of what is going on in the region, people are saying if Bush the son is near, you had better flee your house. The departure of Colin Powell, the only rational voice in the administration, and the naming by Bush of his iron-lady national security advisor, Condoleezza Rice, to replace him, is a clear message to every one that Bush is not afraid of engaging in new wars.

If we think this is a matter of temperament or disposition we must consider the elation Bush must have felt over his re-election. He won 60 million votes in the election and that means he has a popular mandate. The American people elected him despite the numbers of dead in Iraq and Afghanistan and despite the Guantanamo scandals, the rift with the Europeans and Al-Qaeda’s visible activity. Bush won despite Michael Moore’s movie, Fahrenheit911 , which ridiculed the US president by its searing examination of his administration’s actions in the wake of Sept.11. Bush won although the film set box-office records when shown in theaters across the US. He won even though many musicians, singers, actors and the media were against him.