Peter Espeut IT HAS been an interesting week to be in Washington DC in the aftermath of the presidential election and with the Cabinet changes in President Bush's second term. Ironically of course, the District of Columbia the seat of federal government in the USA and the location of the White House voted heavily for John Kerry and against George W. Bush, and so local public discussion is heavily laced with cynicism.
The environmental groups that we are meeting with are bracing for more debilitating budget cuts and negative policy shifts. Late last week the ring of soldiers guarding the Capitol building stood down, but much of officialdom in this city maybe in this country is still gripped in paranoia at what Osama bin Laden and his cohort might do. He is still the greatest blot on US national pride: despite the tremendous technology and resources available, he has remained at large for too many years, thumbing his nose at the world's only superpower. They are very much afraid of him.
PERSONAL SEARCHES
The number and degree of personal searches during travel has certainly increased. Not only have I had to put my shoes, belt and even travel documents through the X-ray machine, but I have had my computer bag swabbed and tested in an ion-scan machine (I suppose for traces of explosives). Maybe I do look slightly Arabian! As we approached Washington's Reagan National Airport the Captain advised us that no one would be allowed to go to the bathroom or even stand up half-an-hour before we were due to land; if anyone even stood up, for security reasons the airplane would immediately have to be diverted to Dulles International Airport further away from Washington DC! No one stood up. I can imagine the rush to the airport washrooms! When I opened my bags after arrival I found a slip of paper advising me that my suitcase had been opened and searched by US security officials, and that if they had been forced to break it open in the process, they were not liable for any damage or loss I might have suffered. Not nice!
Even at the Metro (subway) stations, recorded messages ask commuters to report anything or anyone suspicious, giving out Metro Police hotlines to call. There is a thin line between prudent security and paranoia, and I think the USA has crossed that line. Fortress Amerika is not too far away! Decades of terrorist attacks by the IRA did not drive the English to create 'Fortress Britain'; they stepped up their vigilance and their intelligence gathering, and made their raids. But then Britain was bombed during World War II, so the British are no strangers to terror on their soil. The Americans are virgins in that regard (except of course for Pearl Harbour on the out-islands), and have definitely overreacted to 9-11, their first mainland experience. I hope it will not be seen as unkind if I say that the US can give it but can't take it.
ATOM BOMB
Still the only country to have dropped an atom bomb on civilians in residential areas, they have done it twice! And they have bombed and invaded more countries than any other nation in modern times, killing tens of thousands of civilians. To capture Manuel Noriega they invaded his country. In our region alone they have invaded Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Panama, Nicaragua, and more. Which proud independent country is missing from this list? The dreadful events of 9-11 were a first, and the US has not responded responsibly. They have not addressed the root cause of 9-11, and arguably have made things worse! What I find disturbing is that the US media and the US public (and the US church) have not taken a critical look at US foreign policy, including its adventures abroad.
But generally speaking, people here live well, and they may well feel that their government is out there defending their consumer habits, and are therefore uncritical. It is so infantile, the view that the root of antipathy towards the USA is a jealousy of the relative luxury which characterises their lifestyle; it may more be a sign of Freudian guilt! I don't know why I feel it in my bones that we are living in epochal times, a turning point in world history. The Middle East not for the first time seems to be the focal point of a ferment which could lead to a radical realignment of forces between Europe and the USA.
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and is executive director of an environment and development NGO.
