The botched 'war on terror' (Bush is a failure, no more myths)

div class="excerpt"]Middle East
Jan 10, 2006

The botched 'war on terror'

By Michael T Klare

President George W Bush has lost the support of most Americans when it comes to the economy, the environment and the war in Iraq, but he continues to enjoy majority support in one key area: his handling of the "war on terrorism". Indeed, many analysts believe that Bush won the 2004 election largely because swing voters concluded that he would do a better job at this than his Democratic challenger, John Kerry. In fact, with his overall opinion-poll approval ratings so low, Bush's purported proficiency in fighting terror represents something close to his last claim to public legitimacy.

But has he truly been effective in combating terror? As the "war on terrorism" drags on - with no signs of victory in sight - there are good reasons to doubt his competency at this, the most critical of all his presidential responsibilities.

Consider, for a moment, the president's view of the "war on terror". While the White House keeps trying to stretch this term to include everything from the war in Iraq to the protection of oil pipelines in Colombia, most Americans wisely view it in more narrow terms, as a global struggle against Muslim zealots who seek to punish the US for its perceived anti-Islamic behavior and to free the Middle East of Western influence through desperate acts of violence...


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For too long, the American public has accepted the myth of presidential effectiveness in the "war on terror". But as the practical implications of Bush's incompetence become ever more apparent - lamentably, through the continued spread and potency of radical jihadism - this last, crucial prop of the president's support could soon fall away. As 2005 was the year in which Bush's fatal incompetence in domestic affairs was revealed to all through the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans, 2006 could prove to be the year in which his failed leadership in the "war on terror" finally comes back to haunt him.

Michael T Klare is the professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College and the author, most recently, of Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Dependence on Imported Petroleum (Owl Books) as well as Resource Wars, The New Landscape of Global Conflict.

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