TODAY IS the second anniversary of September 11, 2001 when two hijacked commercial aircraft hurtled into the twin towers of the World Trade Center and brought them crashing down in a cloud of dust, a cloud that still seem to be hanging over America's precipitate reaction to the attack.
Between a procrastinating United Nations reluctant to enforce its own resolutions and an American President champing at the bit to take
retaliatory action, truth got lost in rhetoric and propaganda and there is still no clear solution to the problem of international terrorism.
America did what America does best, that is, the use of its military with skill and panache to oust Saddam Hussein from power. What America does not know how to do, and never has, is to deal with cultural, religious and political realities different from its own which leave it as an occupying force bewildered as to why the Iraqis have not welcomed them with open arms.
Continuing American casualties after the formal declaration that the war was over is causing anxiety at home and prompting calls for American forces to withdraw and leave the Iraqis to straighten out their own priorities. As wrong as America's pre-emptive strike may have been, withdrawal now would make the last state of affairs worse than the first, akin to the debacle of Vietnam.
Recognising this dilemma, a subdued and humbled President Bush has addressed the American nation about the situation in Iraq and indirectly admitted that American needs military, financial and political help from the international community to save Iraq from spiralling totally out of control.
This is to be facilitated by a draft resolution to be adopted by the UN, but France and Germany, who had opposed the war, have threatened to veto it. Contrast this with the reaction of Mr. Bush's Democratic political opponents, hoping to unseat him in next year's Presidential election.
Far from making overt political mileage out of his embarrassment, they realise the importance of America staying in Iraq until law and order has been restored; and it appears that they will support Mr. Bush's request for a further US$87 billion to fund ongoing operations in Iraq.
Perhaps the most telling point he made in his national broadcast is that what America is trying to do in rebuilding Iraq is what it did so admirably after World War II in rebuilding Germany through the Marshall Plan. We join Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, in hoping that a reasonable consensus can be arrived at this time around.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
