PRIOR TO the U.S. election, there was word in Washington, DC, that there might be changes in the Bush Cabinet if the president was re-elected. In particular, there were pressures from both right and left to remove the neo-conservatives from the Defence Department and replace them with people who were more cautious or, in the true sense of the word, more conservative.
So far there has been a surprisingly high turnover in the Bush Cabinet. More than a third of the secretaries have announced their resignations. But any hopes that the neo-cons were going to be sidelined appear to have been dashed by recent events.
The departure of Colin Powell was long expected, so nothing much can be read into it. However his replacement by Condoleezza Rice will hardly please those who valued Powell's diplomatic approach over Rice's willingness to persecute wars.
Nor is there any sign that Donald Rumsfeld or Paul Wolfowitz, the Defence Secretary and his deputy respectively, are going anywhere. Indeed, Mr. Rumsfeld, who took a low profile during the second half of the campaign, was seated on the President's right, at his first press conference after the elections. Any optimism that a second Bush Cabinet might turn over a new leaf and change direction slightly in the face of the apparent failures of the neo-cons a worsening war in Iraq, a stalled Middle-East peace process, frosty relations with many allies appears to have dissipated.
If the rumours turn out to be true, and the appointments go ahead, then we will be getting more of the same. In spades.
This could fuel further hostility towards the U.S. and thereby increase the potential for terrorism and attacks on Americans in different parts of the world. The arrogance and unilateralist approach of the Bush administration has fertilised the soil for anti-American sentiment.
While Powell might have been too much of a dove for the power brokers in Washington, his more diplomatic approach would have engendered greater goodwill and support for Washington in the medium to long term than has been the case up to now. The neo-cons' confidence in the superiority of Washington's military might to force others into falling in line, will prove to have been misplaced sooner rather than later.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
