(Squandering America’s political coin.)

(On September 11, 2001, my wife and I were touring Burgundy and stopped for a drink in the little town of Nuit-St.-Georges, which gives its name to certain regional Burgundian wines.  Three years later, while working a Chamber of Commerce festival in Castro Valley, I came home at noontime to ease my weary back for an hour, but was quite bothered by the import of the anniversary.  I sat down and wrote the following piece.)

Happy Anniversary to all of my friends who plan to vote for the incumbent in the upcoming presidential election.

I was in France on September 11, 2001.  We were sitting in a sidewalk café in a little town in Burgundy.  I went inside to use the bathroom and when I came out, I noticed the television showing one of the World Trade Center towers smoldering.  I watched for a few moments, not understanding what was going on.  Then I rushed outside and told my wife, “Get your purse and your camera and come in here quick.  They’ve bombed the World Trade Center again.”  Only they hadn’t bombed it again – it was much worse than that.

Over the next hour, we watched the second plane hit the second tower and the chaos that followed.  The bartender changed the television channel to American CNN for us.  The proprietress brought us free snacks.  We finally tore ourselves away from the television and wandered through a few shops, where the French shopkeepers were as somber and shocked as we were.  That day, Americans were welcomed everywhere, with tears and sympathy and brotherhood.

The banner headline on the front page of Paris’ largest daily newspaper the next day read “WE ARE ALL AMERICANS.”

Two days later, back at our hosts’ house outside of Paris, the father of one of our former exchange students called to tell us how sorry he was for our loss and how much he empathized with America.

Eighteen months later, the United States invaded Iraq, which had no connection whatsoever with Al Qaeda.  Based on misinformation, many honorable senators voted for the invasion, as did every single member of the House of Representatives except one.

Almost all of the rest of the world condemned this invasion.  And what was our answer?  “The rest of the world is wrong.  We’ll stop eating French fries.  We’ll stop eating German sausages.  We’ll stop eating Belgian waffles.  After all, if you’re not for us, you’re against us.”

“We bailed the French out in World War II, and now look how they’re treating us.”

That sounds to me like saying to your best friend, “I gave you a place to stay when you lost your job.  And now you won’t loan me your spare bedroom so I can cheat on my wife?  How ungrateful can you get?!”

In other words, the world doesn’t hate America.  They hate what we’re doing.  “Love the sinner and hate the sin.”  My French friends don’t condemn America; they condemn Mr. Bush.  One of them pointed out to me that more Americans are opposed to the invasion of Iraq than the entire population of France.  So how does that make the French so evil?

On September 11, 2001, the United States gained more sympathy and friendship coin than it seemed possible we could ever spend.  In the three years since, we’ve tossed those coins down the gutter and our sympathy and friendship bank is flat broke.  Thank you Mr. Bush.

On September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda was a highly effective, but SMALL organization of hard-core Islamists carrying out a terrorist attack once a year or so.  In the three years since, Al Qaeda has only grown stronger.  More importantly, it has splintered.  Chop off one of the Hydra’s heads, and it grows nine more. More importantly still, the Islamic world now perceives the United States as a grave threat to their religion and to their way of life.  (It doesn’t matter whether or not this is true.  We have to deal with their perceptions, and we’re not.)  Thank you Mr. Bush.

On September 11, 2001, almost all of the effective Islamic terrorists were Saudis.  Today, they come from all over the Islamic world to train to fight “the great infidel.”   Thank you Mr. Bush.  You promised to be a uniter, not a divider, and you’ve certainly united the Islamic fundamentalists.

(And, by the way, Mr. Bush, they do not “hate us for our freedom.”  That’s just cheap political clap-trap.  They hate us for what we’re doing.  The world envies us for our freedom.  That used to be our major strength.  We led by example.  Now we’re attempting to lead by force.  In the long run, that policy has never worked and it’s not working now.)

Are you safer now than you were four years ago?  Not by a long shot.  You are in much more danger thanks to our foreign policies.  Is the world a safer place than it was four years ago?  Not by a long shot.  What American or Australian hotel or embassy anywhere in the world has proved to be safe for you to visit?  Does our country enjoy the respect and esteem that it did four years ago?…Is there really a need to answer that question?

Is our economy in better shape than four years ago?  Not by a long shot.  We can’t blame Mr. Bush for the dot-com burst and subsequent stock-market crash, but we can blame him for massive federal deficits due to tax cuts and the Iraqi invasion.  The effects of these deficits will show up soon on your adjustable mortgage loan payments and your charge card payments. You haven’t felt them yet?  You will.

And finally, we have to admit that we’re stuck with Iraq.  It doesn’t matter which Democratic candidate became the nominee, whether Kerry or Edwards or Kuchinic or Sharpton or Dean or whoever.  We created the mess and we’re stuck with it.

So, I hear you saying, if the Republican and Democratic foreign policies vis-a-vis Iraq are almost identical, why change horses?

It might be because the first horse deliberately threw you into the quicksand, and you’re stuck there in the quicksand in the middle of the stream.  Do you want to trust that same horse to get you out?  Or is changing horses in mid-stream the more sensible alternative?