President George W. Bush has an active imagination. How do I know? I think anyone who watched his State of the Union address could detect it. Bush was obviously imagining himself to be President Reagan.
His talk of an \axis of evil,"" his call for enormous increases in defense spending coupled with large tax breaks for the rich and even his demeanor, which suggested the speech was his way of rallying the country around proposals that most of Congress objects to, smacked of Reagan.
It must be a nice fantasy for Bush to imagine himself as a president who was in office more than 10 years ago, dealing with a world almost completely different from the one that exists today. For the rest of the nation, it could be a nightmare. Reagan's doctrines and his black and white distinctions between good and bad worked when the world looked like a battle between good and evil. They do not sound so good when the battle lines are blurred.
One prominent example is Bush's ""axis of evil."" Iraq, Iran and North Korea are certainly not friendly countries. Yet, I would only go so far as to call Iraq the only truly evil government in the group. Yes, political repression occurs in Iran and North Korea. Yes, both countries are actively seeking nuclear weapons. But to simply dismiss them as evil conceals the important progress made in both countries toward reform.
Unlike the ""evil empire"" of Reagan's era, Iran and North Korea are hardly threats to the United States. In fact, Iran stands as one of the few examples of an emerging Islamic democracy in the Middle East. Iranian President Mohammed Khatami was popularly elected and represents a large portion of Iranian citizens who would like a loosening of religious repression and an adoption of Iranian reforms.
Prior to Bush's ""axis of evil"" statement, Iran had agreed to cooperate with the United States in certain aspects of the war in Afghanistan, and Iran has been quick to denounce Osama bin Laden's interpretation of Islam. No wonder Iranian leaders were so bewildered and enraged by Bush's accusations. Even North Korea, which is notorious for being secretive and obstinate, had been making overtures to South Korea to end the more than 50 years of war between the two countries.
When Bush approached the issue of what to do with these ""rogue states,"" I am sure he asked himself, ""What would Reagan do?"" What Reagan did do in his time was play a game of brinkmanship with the Soviet Union, knowing (hoping) they would blink first. Thankfully, history placed Mikhail Gorbachev as the Soviet leader, who already wanted to reform the corrupt and inefficient Soviet system. History ended up proving Reagan's strategy correct when the Soviet Union fell in the early 1990s.
The world is fundamentally different now. The major threat to U.S. interests comes not from other countries, but from organizations like al Qaeda that are spread throughout the world. These organizations rely on informal financial and intelligence networks made possible by the myriad of technological advances that are part of the ""information revolution.""
For example, the Internet could be used to mobilize highly decentralized terrorist cells for another attack on U.S. soil in a matter of minutes. Imagine AOL's Instant Messenger being used to relay covert messages to operatives around the world. It could happen.
In many ways, these cells do not need the support of a host government or country.
They can operate within the confines of the Western world, as was made apparent when it was revealed that several terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden were operating in European countries like France, Germany and Great Britain.
Unless Bush is preparing the Marines for an invasion of Iran, Iraq and North Korea'and hoping they crumble as easily as Afghanistan'his confrontational rhetoric will accomplish almost nothing. What the ""war on terrorism"" needs is cooperation. Iran is not going to stop its nuclear weapons program or end its funding of terrorist cells in Lebanon because the United States called it evil.
The world has left Reagan's simplistic foreign policy of good versus evil behind. In its place is a multi-polar nightmare of anti-Americanism sprouting in every marginalized country. Bush needs to understand that hero worship and role-playing are fun, but not at the expense of America's national security.
