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NEWS & LETTERS, December 2002
Editorial Article
Bush's drive to war imperils U.S.
As the Bush administration gears up for its war against
Iraq--made easier by the failure of the Democrats to pose any pole of opposition
in the recent elections and by the unanimous vote of the UN Security Council
that Iraq comply with U.S. demands--a dangerous chapter has opened in the effort
to restrict civil rights and political liberties inside the U.S. The rightward shift in national and international
policies started with the election of George W. Bush in 2000, but was moderated
somewhat by the Democrat-controlled Senate. That change is now moving into high
gear following the Republican midterm election victories and control of the
House and Senate. The most threatening of the administration's offensives
is the one against individual rights and privacy. First came the U.S. PATRIOT
act, steamrolled through Congress following the September 11, 2001 attacks. Then
came the recent enactment of the Department of Homeland Security legislation and
the Total Information Awareness plan. With them, the legal foundation for a
full-blown police state is emerging with dictatorial power centered in the hands
of one person: President Bush, the eager puppet of corporate America and the
Christian Right. TOTALITARIAN GRAB FOR INFORMATION Most ominous by far is the Total(itarian) Information
Awareness plan that will enable the administration to track virtually every
activity an individual engages in. This includes credit card and money
purchases, telephone calls, computer activity (including email), medical
records, travel by land, sea or air at home or abroad, home purchases and
mortgage payments, financial deposits and withdrawals, Social Security data,
investments, interest and dividend payments, organizational memberships,
educational records, and any encounter with a national, state or local legal
agency. Under the PATRIOT act, immigrants were stripped of many
rights, military tribunals with secret testimony and no appeal were created, and
"enemies" were defined so broadly as to include virtually anyone who
did anything to "harm" the economy and endanger security. This
definition can include strikers, anti-war and anti-capitalist globalization
demonstrators, boycott participants as well as political radicals who could be
labeled "enemies" and made subject to arrest and incarceration. The PATRIOT act could have been used against the
locked-out longshoremen who halted West Coast shipping for two weeks last month,
but Bush did not need to expose this power in the act so soon--plenty of time
for that in the future--since he could use the repressive and more familiar
Taft-Hartley slave labor act. Another massive assault against organized labor will
result from the unprecedented consolidation of 22 separate government agencies,
with nearly 170,000 employees and a combined budget of more than $355 billion,
under the Department of Homeland Security. DEMOCRATS ROLL OVER Bush's demand to exercise total control over the
department, which will mean the abolition of union and civil service
protections, had been delayed until the election, after which the Democrats
capitulated to give Bush a free hand to implement his anti-labor agenda. While
the FBI and CIA maintain their autonomy and are not included in the
reorganization, a separate intelligence unit will be created in the new
department. At the same time, the administration announced its
intention to permit private corporations to compete for as many as 850,000
government jobs--a clear signal of its pro-corporate, anti-labor perspective.
This signal will not be missed by state and local governments, which will try to
emulate this to eliminate or weaken their own unionized employees. When Ronald Reagan took office in 1980, he telegraphed
his anti-labor convictions by firing the unionized air traffic controllers who
went on strike, and followed this with eight years of pro-business programs and
policies. Compared with Bush, however, Reagan was a piker. The danger President
Dwight Eisenhower warned about, the military-industrial complex, has been
realized and confronts America in its most naked and rapacious form in the Bush
administration. Bush's total support of the military is reflected in the
$354.8 billion approved for the military--the largest build-up in 20 years.
Another request for $10 billion more to fund secret programs is certain to be
added that will be used as seen fit by the Pentagon with no Congressional
oversight or accountability. WARS TO COME AT HOME AND ABROAD Not included in this are the unknown expenses of a war
against Iraq, which could run to $100 billion. Bush is determined to launch his
war regardless of what Hussein does in response to UN inspections and in spite
of worldwide opposition to unilateral U.S. military action. Bush's ability to browbeat the Democrats into virtual
silence on the issue of Iraq, on the grounds that any criticism of his policy
represents a failure to oppose terrorism, will no doubt be used by him in the
future to deflect opposition to his reactionary policies. This situation makes it imperative for the forces
opposed to war to make it clear that we oppose not only the Bush administration,
but also reactionaries like Saddam Hussein and the terrorist threat posed by
religious fundamentalism. Unless the anti-war movement openly addresses the
continuing threat posed by forces like Al Qaeda, it will not be able to convince
people in this country that Bush's policies are not geared to protect us. Just as the administration failed to anticipate the
attacks of September 11--in large part because it spent more time spying on
domestic opponents than seriously pursuing Osama bin Laden--so the rulers cannot
be entrusted with the job of protecting us from further terrorist attacks. The
truth is that Bush's national security state is aimed not so much against
overseas terrorists as against potential forces of opposition inside the U.S. Despite the present grim outlook, forces are emerging to
challenge the administration's plans. The revolutionary spirit of Blacks and
women in America, tempered in mass actions to gain rights through both the
Women's Liberation and Civil Rights movements, is sure to forcefully resist
efforts to roll back the rights won with much determination. They will be allied
with youth, whose natural idealism is reflected in their organizing to eliminate
sweatshops, to protest the drive to war on Iraq, to support union drives, and to
demonstrate against the drive for capitalist globalization. Youth have also been in the forefront of environmental
protection actions, which are sure to be assailed after the midterm elections as
the administration moves to expand forest logging, reduce restrictions on
utility industry pollution and permit oil drilling off the coast of Florida and
in the Alaskan Arctic. Most crucial will be the opposition to regimentation by
labor. This is demonstrated in actions by workers against exploitation, unsafe
conditions, the dehumanization of the production line and the betrayals by their
labor bureaucracies. Worker responses to further oppression planned by the
administration can possibly unleash their creative potentials to remove the
chains of bondage planned for them. SNOOPING NOT TAKEN LIGHTLY In this process workers can develop the kind of thinking
that will inspire them to go beyond what they are against to what they are for,
which of necessity will include the elements for the creation of a new human
society. Evidence of the fear and revulsion by the American people of
police-state trappings was reflected in widespread opposition to the earlier
effort to create a federal snoop force of postal employees and other government
workers. This opposition quickly forced the administration to abandon its plan. However, the Total Information Awareness Agency,
appropriately headed by convicted criminal John Pointdexter who consistently
lied to Congress about his activity in the illegal Iran-contra conspiracy, makes
such crude and elementary surveillance unnecessary and obsolete. |
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