The President Plants A Stake In Iraq

IN HIS SPEECH on Iraq on October 6, 2005, President Bush clarified, finally, the war aims of the United States in the global war on terror. It is to oppose and neutralize the forces that “call for terrorist murder against Christians and Jews and Hindus -- and also against Muslims from other traditions, who they regard as heretics.”

But how? That was the meat of the president’s speech. What he called the fifth element of his strategy is in fact the centerpiece of his strategy, which the other elements support:

to deny the militants future recruits by replacing hatred and resentment with democracy and hope across the broader Middle East

We can understand this better by turning to political philosopher Bertrand de Jouvenel. For him, the point of a successful politics is to create a mild and friendly politics of civility in place of the alternative, a ruthless and murderous politics of hate. Every faction is “some part of a people... joined together in a bellicose spirit against some other part.” The intent of leaders of sects and factions is to set citizens at war with each other. The goal of friendly politics is to set citizens to work with each other.

The point of modern democracy is to reduce revolutionary combat and assassination with symbolic combat, and replace battle with friendly rivalry.

Maybe that is why President Bush is avoiding a knock-down drag-out fight over his Supreme Court nominations. Maybe he wants the culture wars of the last decade to cool off a bit—lest they escalate into real war.

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Christopher Chantrill blogs at www.roadtothemiddleclass.com. His Road to the Middle Class is forthcoming.