President Bush saying that America is safer under his command islike Sudan claiming that it is a champion of human rights. Thiscountry, and the world, is significantly less safe due to actionstaken by our President, yet many Americans are either too stupid ortoo ignorant to realize this.
While the world is a better place with Saddam Hussein out ofpower, saying that the world is safer is far from the truth.Putting aside the fact that there were no weapons of massdestruction nor legitimate ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda, theinvasion of Iraq and subsequent occupation has made America and itsallies infinitely more vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
We do not have nearly enough troops and resources to captureOsama Bin Laden and rebuild Afghanistan; our invasion of Iraq isnow the ideal recruitment tool for al Qaeda, and the Abu Ghraibprison scandal has created hostility towards us among Muslimsthroughout the world. The absolutely morbid conditions in Iraq nowadd to the unprecedented amount of hatred and mistrust felt towardsthe United States.
But the biggest failure of this administration is also the mostcomplicated, and many Americans simply do not understand why thisis so. In an upcoming column about why Ukrainian-Americans shouldvote for Kerry, attorney and author Bohdan Vitvitsky (yes, arelative) writes that the overall goal of a successful foreignpolicy is to ensure the safety of a nation by uniting your alliesand dividing your enemies. It takes special incompetence to do theexact opposite, yet the Bush administration has miraculouslymanaged to do so.
After Sept. 11, the United States enjoyed support throughout theworld and received almost unanimous support in its invasion ofAfghanistan. Only three years later, because of Bush's policies, wehave squandered most of that support and united terrorists all overthe world in their quest to kill Americans. It is not in the UnitedStates' national interest concerning security to alienate andantagonize the entire world, especially in this era of globalterrorism. Being hated in the world will not make us safer athome.
The Bush administration still pathetically claims that theinvasion of Iraq was a global coalition, even if it did not receiveUN permission. But when your third and fourth biggest troopcontributors are Poland and Ukraine, respectively, two nations withvery little influence on world politics, you have a hugeproblem.
Even though our country is considerably less safe under Bush,the current administration is trying to paint Kerry as an unsureleader who would compromise the security of the United States. Thatis simply the most blasphemous, outrageous accusation I have everheard. After witnessing Sept. 11, no President would evercompromise the security of the United States. Though born intoprivilege (as was President Bush), John Kerry has dedicated hislife to public service, volunteered to protect our country duringVietnam, unlike our current draft-dodging administration, andserved in the Senate for 20 years. He is the last person who wouldwillfully compromise our security, yet the Bush team has done anexcellent job brainwashing Americans into believing that Kerry isthe enemy.
We are fighting a "war on terror" that cannot decisively be wonagainst an enemy that has no face and no location and could strikein any place at any time. The Bush Administration has pouredhundreds of billions of dollars into the "war on terror" and warsin Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet money alone will not win the war orsuccessfully rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan.
It takes planning ahead, international support, respect forhuman rights, a sufficient amount of troops, and the completesupport of the occupied population to meet the lofty goals of theBush Administration. Unfortunately, they have utterly failed inachieving any of these requisites and, as a result, have made itmore likely for our country to witness another devastatingterrorist attack.
It is for these reasons why I do not feel assured of my safetywhen riding on the T, or taking a flight from Boston to London,with Bush in power. And it is for these reasons that I will bevoting for John Kerry on Nov. 2.
Stephan Vitvitsky is a junior majoring in political scienceand economics. He can be reached via e-mail atStephan.Vitvitsky@Tufts.edu.
