Close up: Illusions of peace By Salama A Salama Almost to the last one, all US presidential candidates agree on one thing: the need for change. In the run-up for the August primaries and the November elections, many names will pop up and disappear as the American people ponder their options. The next president may be an African American, Barack Obama, or a woman, Hillary Clinton. But on both sides of the Democratic-Republican divide, Americans are visibly disenchanted with the policies of the Bush administration. The Democrats say the Bush administration undermined US international standing, wrecked the economy, and boosted joblessness. The Republicans are all working hard to disassociate themselves from Bush's legacy. Here in the Arab world, it is a different story. Even though Bush looks like a student cramming too late for the exams, our leaders are still trying to stay on his good side. From day one, the policies of the Bush administration weakened the Arab world while boosting the despotic regimes that support US policies. Under the Bush administration, Israel opted for aggression, shedding any semblance of interest in peace. Bush has used its so-called friendship with Arab countries to interfere in their domestic affairs. It blackmailed and pressured. It bullied Arab governments while claiming to be democratising the Arab world and saving it from backwardness, extremism, and terror. Arab governments may still want to curry favour with the US president. But the Arab nations, who believe in the same principles of justice and freedom as most Americans, will not forgive the Bush administration for its repeated assaults against their culture and traditions. The Bush administration has triggered a war between Islam and the West. It turned Islam into its enemy of choice, proceeding to invade and occupy first Afghanistan then Iraq. It backed Israel in its invasion of Lebanon. It conspired with Israel to punish and divide the Palestinian people. It committed crimes against humanity in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Now it is threatening war on Iran. Had the Arab nations been free, protesters would have been marching in every Arab capital, denouncing Bush's visit. The evil record of the Bush administration is one that no visit can erase. This is why no one took seriously the ill-fated conference in Annapolis, a gathering to which Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice invited 40 countries with little more than a flimsy promise of resumed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Annapolis failed within hours of its convocation. And Israel went on with business as usual, bombing the Palestinians and expanding its settlements. In his talks with Arab leaders, President Bush never mentioned once the issues of final settlement. Nor did he put any of his aides in charge of supervising the promised resumption of negotiations. The Palestinians were promised $7.3 billion in aid, but Gaza remains under siege until such time that Hamas is willing to capitulate. Bush keeps telling everyone how America is concerned about the safety of its friends in the region. But all he really wants is for the Arabs to help him contain Iran, a country that US intelligence agencies admit has no plans to build a bomb. It would be naïve to think that Bush could or would resolve the region's problems. His administration has so far succeeded only in turning every crisis into a major disaster. Think Pakistan. Think Kenya. In Pakistan, Bhutto was assassinated right after reaching some understanding with the Bush administration. In Kenya, Washington threw its weight behind President Kibaki, and civil war followed. The Americans want change in their country. We, meanwhile, are discussing imaginary peace with a has-been leader.
