Bush Rhetoric on World Affairs Irresponsible

To the editors:

After reading “A Dove in Hawk’s Clothing,” by Travis R. Kavulla ’06, I was baffled as to whether I was reading The Crimson or the Lampoon (Comment, April 1.) One usually expects a commentary piece to pay at least partial tribute to reality.

Kavulla’s characterization of President George W. Bush’s bestowal of authority on the U.N. carelessly ignores the fact that the U.S. bestowed authority upon the U.N. by becoming a signatory to the U.N. Charter, which obligates its signatories to refrain from aggression absent the approval of the Security Council.

Even a dim understanding of political posturing reveals that Bush was intent on uncompromising unilateralism. To call him a “dove in hawk’s clothing” is a puerile epithet whose sloppiness would make even the most avid of Bush’s spin-doctors cringe. Bush went to the U.N. as a token gesture to garner political points by convincing the naive that he was intent on multilateralism. It was a ploy made all the more transparent by Bush’s obstinacy to granting even trifling concessions over inspection timing and oil-rights as well as his vocal disregard for the inspectors’ reports.

The irresponsible rhetoric that poured forth from the Bush administration revealed an utter contempt for the U.N. and its constituent nations. It is little wonder, then, that the world did not graciously prostrate itself before U.S. war mongering.

An Orwellian beatification of Bush won’t change the reality that we are tripping on our superpower ego, and nobody will be there to catch us when we fall.

Joseph A. Pace ’06

April 1, 2003