The Bush Doctrine: "God Made Us Do It" posted by Richard Seymour

I'm sure I can't have been the only one to notice both the ITV and Channel Four news describing the latest Bush dyslexities as a "charm offensive". Let me parse a phrase or two for you:

"I'm so glad to be going to a country where people are free to express what's on their mind... freedom is a beautiful thing."

"Freedom is not America's gift to the world; freedom is God's gift to humanity."

(Add the cheap smirk for yourself.)

Well, Bush certainly isn't too subtle in playing that old routine about "if you lived in Iraq, you wouldn't be free to say what you're saying", although he does express it in an ironic way as if to disarm critics. Actually, you will notice that when people say that, what they want you to do is pretend that you DO live in Iraq. The only thing worthy of attention in this statement is Bush crooning "freedom is a beautiful thing" as if he were some clapped out soul singer speaking as part of a UN delegation to South Africa.

The second statement is a Bush classic, an old favourite of his . I want you to consider the complexity of that statement. Go back up and read it again. "Freedom is not America's gift to the world". Of course it isn't, dumbass! Do you think we imagine you fought all the anti-colonial wars, every democratic revolution and every protest movement? I suppose you thought we'd forgotten all about fifty years of US support for scummy little dictatorships, fostering an atmosphere of authoritarianism, barbarity and extreme corruption just because it created a favourable investment climate?

But at least that first part of the statement looks like humility. It looks like the American president saying "We don't really think we're the best thing since Toussaint L'ouverture". But mark the punchline: "Freedom is God's gift to humanity"!

Well, he took his fucking time getting round to that! I suppose God was just biding his time, waiting for us to get the massacring and torturing out of our systems before handing us our freedom. But of course, Bush didn't mean that God literally gives us our freedom - he meant that America does so on God's behalf. So, he makes a typical piece of Pax Americana arrogance sound like humility and self-deprecation. Cicero was very good at this. American letters to the Guardian are so hilariously eloquent on this point that they bear repeating:

"So this is how you Brits treat the president of the United States? The president of the nation that sent millions of its young men to defend the people of England during world war two? Now it would seem our president is not worthy of an official visit. This is treatment one would expect from the French..." Thomas Farnkoff Portland, Maine, USA

You can hear that obnoxious, abrasive voice now: 'America saved Europe in World War Two, held back Communism, and gave democracy to Germany and Japan. And you guys are just jealous cos we're rich and free and you're not.' If any of the many Americans living in London fancy debating me on this point, you'll see me prowling around in my black winter coat with the "Stop Bush" badge ineptly clasped onto the breast. Come and tell me all about the "Freedom fries" and those "Dixie Sluts" (or "Blixie Chicks" as Al Franken ineptly called them in one of his corporate gigs for Clear Channel). Tell me all about the bad Germans and the bad French. Tell me about freedom and democracy and how you just don't get why people hate America so much. Tell me about your Constitution and the flag and how your government is itching to "liberate" people from obscure countries whose names you can't easily pronounce. Let me hear you now,

#"freedom is a beautiful thaaaang, freedom is a beautiful thaaaang..."#

I won't mock a position for being "childish" - that put-down is a staple of conservatism, and, as Francis Bacon had it "antiquity was the youth of the world", and it gave us democracy. But the patent idiocy of the discourse is compounded by a very adult sophistication about how to work with unconscious phantasy life, press emotive buttons and hinder dissent. Part of the strategy involves getting us to waste our time on pointless inanities, but it also involves creating a climate of intimidation for arguments that do not resonate with the Flag-Freedom-God fantasy. Bush isn't just a childish dolt. He's also a big, pompous buffoon who has the cleverness to know good PR advice when Karl Rove gives it to him. Rove obviously thought it would be a neat idea to have Bush "drivin down the Mall with the Briddish queen". Time to make that fucker rue the day!