 AYDINLIK TÜRKİYE'NİN HABERCİSİ |
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AYDINLIK TÜRKİYE'NİN HABERCİSİ |
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My bitter encounter with the mighty I pity
When George W. Bush paid an official visit to Turkey last year, just before attending a NATO summit, I had a casual chat with him. This was in June. When I was introduced to Mr. Bush as a senior Turkish columnist writing on all sorts of topics including his war against Iraq, he was quick to ask me if I had been writing for or against his policies.
I like a politician who is attentive of his image even if he's too far away from his home ground. I was one of the staunch opponents of his intention to respond to terrorists with weapons and opening up war on every possible front. When I told him my position, with the interjections of several colleagues who were listening to our conversation, Mr. Bush assumed I was an "anti-American"… "No sir," I said. "I'm not. In fact, when a family member, who is an American citizen by birth, was in the states studying, I urged him very strongly to vote for you in 2000. But I'm terribly disappointed with what you did after getting his vote."
This exchange of ideas reverberated the next day in Turkey, as many newspapers carried what went on between Mr. Bush and me. But I must tell the rest of the story. Mr. Bush, in his most reassuring voice, tried to convince me that things in Iraq would go better and better with each passing day. The last sentence came out of my mouth was not too polite. "I don't think so," I said.
When I entered the U.S. from Dulles International Airport on the fourth anniversary of that fateful day, Sept. 11, 2001, Mr. Bush’s assuring voice was ringing in my ears. I have no idea if he still remembers what I had said to him during the state dinner at Topkapi Palace, in Istanbul on the second leg of his visit to Turkey, but I never forgot what he said. The ensuing events in Iraq and elsewhere did not prove him right, on the contrary, the U.S. seems to be losing ground everywhere every day and Mr. Bush’s popularity has been affected by these developments for the worse. His approval ratings seem to be declining sharply.
I perfectly understand the measures taken by the U.S. to counter any possible terrorist act against its citizens or interests. But, the additional measures after 9/11 as tools of combating terror globally have made life unendurable for U.S. citizens and has begun to affect U.S. interests negatively. The interrogations any random visitor to the U.S. are subjected to are both time consuming and annoying. In my previous post-9/11 visits I had my left finger scanned only, this time both my fingers received such treatment. The most annoying of all is the unhappiness Americans experience when traveling abroad; they are hesitant to show their passports as proudly as they did before the "war against terror" had started. Rampant anti-Americanism all over the world is eroding the last remnants of pride Americans feel towards their country.
The insurgency in Iraq let up and casualties resulting from their violence declined last week. What do we make of that? I believe the insurgents are revising their plans, not because the war against terror is successful, but because of Hurricane Katrina. The hurricane in New Orleans and the White House’s meager response to it has affected the U.S. image so negatively, that the insurgents have called a time-out.
Since the wheels of history do not roll backwards we will never know what would have happened if the U.S. had reacted differently to that fateful day. What if the U.S. had decided to rectify all the wrongs of the world community and correct injustices committed only by those who could afford to commit them? Rather than taking out stuffy dossiers from dusty shelves for conquering the godforsaken distant territories in the steps of the "late" Roman Empire by sending troops to the four corners of the world, the U.S. could have become an arbiter in a world replete with injustice. The Palestinian problem has always been there to be solved, the inequalities imposed on women, the poor and needy are there too. Tyrants who rule ruthlessly and steal from the coffers of their own countries are also there to be taken care of. Using a UN mandate and getting help from the countries on the same wavelength, the U.S. would have been the leader of all the democratic forces to make world more just.
Mr. Bush has chosen a different path and made himself and his cronies look bad in the eyes of the human community.
Contrary to his claim, as someone who opposes his senseless campaign of war, I'm not the "enemy," and I told him so during our casual chat in Istanbul. No, I'm a friend of his country, the U.S., wishing well to the American people. When the hurricane struck New Orleans my mind became restless trying to find a way to help the victims. I wish Mr. Bush's initial reaction too would have been full of compassion rather than hatred on that fateful day four years ago.
He claims to be a religious man, and I hope he will find a way for his redemption.
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