11. The Emperor And His Tailors

President Bush’s State of the Union address on January 29, 2002 began with a rousing inventory of America’s successes in the War Against Terrorism.  There was much to be aroused about. We had dealt a vicious blow to Al Queda and the Taliban in Afghanistan—at a painful but really quite minimal cost to ourselves.  We were surrounded and upheld by our allies and feared by our enemies. Bush spoke movingly of the liberation of women in Afghanistan, of the freeing of its people from starvation, and oppression, of the capture or flight of thousands of terrorists whom we would hound to the ends of the Earth.  It was indeed, a proud moment to be an American. The tone of exuberance soon changed, however, apparently lest we feel any sense of security:

“Our discoveries in Afghanistan confirmed our worst fears and showed us the true scope of the task ahead. We have seen the depth of our enemies' hatred in videos where they laugh about the loss of innocent life.”

Nobody was surprised when the President went on to name a list of terrorist organizations besides Al Qaeda that still threatened us, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Jaish-i-Mohammed.  He ticked off a longer list of places around the globe where terrorists continued to flourish.  Everybody had heard of these trouble spots before.  They were places like Somalia and the Philippines.  Everybody knew the War Against Terrorism would be long and hard.  Then President Bush began talking about North Korea, Iraq, and Iran.  We heard for the first time the term “Axis of Evil”.  Though in the context it sounded merely a little over the top rhetorically, it was not until the implications of such an assertion began to sink in that alarm bells began to ring. Surely the President was not suggesting that we attack North Korea, Iraq, and Iran. Was he?  As it turned out, to the relief of many, he wasn’t. He was really just talking about attacking Iraq.

Populations around the world understood before many Americans that turning from an unfinished make-over of Afghanistan and going straight into a war of liberation in Iraq was not a logical progression. People began to demand clarification.  The Administration sallied forth undeterred, believing they had rationales to spare.  Condoleezza Rice and the whole propaganda machinery of the Bush Administration bent themselves to the task of reminding the country and the world of the absolute depravity of the Hussein regime.  They didn’t have to fabricate evidence to make the case. And they were not starting from zero:  the US and UK had conducted air strikes against Iraq as recently as December 1998, and from time to time Iraq fired off surface-to-air missiles in the disputed “No-Fly Zone” that never hit anything but which certainly showed his bellicose intent.  In a manner of speaking, you could say we were already at war with Iraq. You could say that particularly if you wanted to escalate hostilities.  And that’s what Bush and Company wanted to do. Why? Because, as we’ve already seen, the Bush Doctrine demanded it. The Domino Theory was back in vogue—only this time the dominoes were supposed to fall our way.

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