Bush’s ‘coronation’:

Stoking the fires of
opposition

NEVER ONCE directly mentioning the invasion and occupation of Iraq, George
Bush’s inaugural speech at his ‘coronation’ last week talked a lot about
ending tyranny and bringing his version of ‘freedom’ to every corner of the
world.

But as New York Times columnist Bob Herbert wrote, seeing the inaugural
ceremonies reminded him "of the scenes near the end of The Godfather in which
a solemn occasion (a baptism in the movies) is interspersed with a series of
spectacularly violent murders.

"Even as President George W Bush was taking the oath of office and
delivering his inaugural address beneath the clear, cold skies of Washington
the news wires were churning out stories about the tragic mayhem in Iraq."

Strip away Bush’s fantasy world where freedom is on the march and you have
a more unstable world with more fear and terror fanned by the actions of the
first term of George W Bush’s regime. The new Bush administration, when you
strip away the rhetoric, offers little different.

A poll taken across 21 countries on every continent the day before his
inauguration showed a clear majority fear that Bush will make the world a more
dangerous place.

When Bush talks of freedom he means the freedom to exploit the working
class and oppressed in every corner of the globe to further US imperialism’s
interests. And rather than removing tyranny, Bush will seek to impose the
tyranny of US imperialism and its military might in any area of the world he
thinks he can get away with.

His regime’s drive against tyranny will be very selective. They won’t
bother with tyrants who preside over nothing of interest to US big business
interests or those who act in their interests.

Oil-rich

But in the oil-rich Middle East – especially Saudi Arabia and Iran – the
Bush regime hope to impose their view of ‘freedom’.

The experience of Iraq shows how Bush’s concept of ‘freedom’ works. You can
have elections but the result will not end the occupation by 120,000 troops
and it won’t end the exploitation of the country’s resources by US big
business.

The authors of a report on post-conflict reconstruction have slammed the US
government’s efforts to ‘rebuild’ Iraq as "wasteful, inefficient and rife with
corruption". The only thing they forgot to point out was that it was also very
profitable for the companies involved.

Bush was correct when he said his actions will light an "untamed fire"
across the world. Unfortunately for him and his regime it will be a fire of
opposition to Bush’s imperial vision.