Last
week, the Republican Party praised George W. Bush
for his contribution to the peace process in Northern
Ireland. At the same time, Karl Rove, the man in
charge of the party’s dirty tricks brigade,
compared the Irish Republican Army to al Qaeda.
Asked to comment on this comparison, David Trimble,
who happened to be attending the Republican convention
in New York City, demurred, claiming that he did
not really understand Mr. Rove’s comments.
Irish Americans, on the other hand, were shocked
and outraged. Did Karl Rove speak for President
Bush? Was he expressing the views of the Republican
Party? Was the President’s close friend speaking
off the cuff, or might there be some hidden agenda—a
warning to Irish Republicans that they may soon
be included in the Bush Administration’s enemy
list.
Had
Irish Americans been watching or listening to the
convention in New York City, they might not have
been surprised by Mr. Rove’s apparent faux
pas. The tone of the convention was spiteful, the
speakers were one-dimensional ideologues, and over-
riding message was the god given right of the United
States to attack other nations. Democratic presidential
candidate, John Kerry, was belittled, insulted,
and dismissed as an indecisive peacenik. Wounded
three times in combat, the recipient of a Bronze
and Silver Star for valor, Senator Kerry had dared
to criticize the war in which he had volunteered
to serve. Like many of his fellow veterans who returned
from the jungles and rice paddies of Vietnam, Kerry
tried to tell the American people that the best
way to honor those who were fighting and dying in
Vietnam was to bring them home alive, not in body
bags or fag-draped coffins.
Mr.
Rove’s comments, and the contempt Republicans
showed John Kerry, should alert Irish Americans
and people living in Ireland, to the fact that the
Bush administration has no intention of promoting
peace and social justice in N. Ireland. In order
to do that, Mr. Bush and friends would have to admit
that the war in Iraq is a terrible mistake, and
that killing people in order to win their hearts
and minds did not work in Southeast Asia, and it
will never work in the Middle East. If Mr. Bush
truly wants to work for peace in N. Ireland, he
must order the Office of Homeland Security to stop
harassing, arresting, jailing, and deporting Irishmen
whose only crime is that fought for a cause in which
they strongly believed. If the Republican Party
expects people in N. Ireland to work together for
a just peace, and for long-term reconciliation,
it must demonstrate, though its actions, that it
opposes bigotry, accepts differences, believes in
diversity, and rejects the politics of vilification
and hatred.
Night
after night, I heard powerful men and women at the
Republican National Convention warn that the United
States of America might be attacked, again, at any
moment. I listened to George W. Bush and friends
attempt to fan the fires of fear from the attacks
on September 11, 2001. People hate America, said
these speakers, because we are wealthy; because
we are free; because we are powerful, we are a democratic
nation; we have fought and are fighting to free
the world from tyranny. We stand for truth and justice
and righteousness. Our many enemies are plotting
to destroy our cities, burn down our schools, and
kill our children. Only if we are willing to send
our sons and daughters to kill and die in Iraq and
other “rogue” nations can we hope to survive
as the beacon of light to the world. We must build
an even bigger and better military. We must be willing
to launch preemptive strikes against other nations,
and we must be willing to give up our constitutional
rights in order that, one day, we can celebrate
victory over world terrorism.
While
the National Republican Convention pounded the drums
of war and disparaged anyone who might wish to end
the carnage in Iraq, the Bush administration was
trying to persuade Irish Americans (a sizeable voting
block) that it intends to help move the peace process
forward in N. Ireland. Meanwhile, the Office of
Homeland Security continues its policy of harassing
Irishmen and their families who have been living
for long periods in the United States. In the name
of homeland security, Attorney General John Ashcroft
feels that his agents have the right to harass,
arrest, and jail anyone they suspect of violating
this nation’s laws. Using the Patriot Act to
trump the bill of rights, Mr. Ashcroft and company
prowl the nation’s libraries, colleges and
universities, and immigrant communities, searching
for enemies of the state.
With
the exception of a brief period in Ireland, I’ve
lived in the United States of America all of my
life. Two of my four children live in New York City,
ground zero, we are told repeatedly, for the next
terrorist attack. My daughter works in Times Square,
which according to one editorial writer for the
New York Times will be leveled if terrorists decide
to detonate a suitcase atomic bomb in Manhattan.
Following the attacks on 9/11, I worked outside
of the Medical Examiner’s office where bodies
were being brought from the World Trade Center.
I experienced the terror and heartache, the rage
and fear and helplessness of those attacks. Like
everyone else, I wanted someone to pay for the murder
of 3,000 people from more than 80 nations who were
working in the towers when they collapsed.
I’m
not convinced that the greatest threat to the United
States of America, and to world peace, is not from
people who supposedly hate this country, but from
those who believe turning Iraq into a free fire
zone will win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi
people. On Monday, September 6, 2004, twelve U.S.
Marines were killed in Iraq. The next day, the count
of American dead rose to 1,000. In August alone,
66 American soldiers were killed and approximately
1400 wounded. No one knows the exact number of Iraqis
killed and wounded since Mr.Bush declared victory
in Iraq, but the civilian count is many thousands
dead, many more wounded.
Just
how the Bush administration intends to work for
peace and social justice in N. Ireland, while occupying
Iraq and threatening to attack other sovereign nations
is a real mystery. It would behoove those who have
been working and continue to work for a lasting
peace in Ireland to listen closely to Karl Rove
and other insiders in the Bush administration who
believe that peace is synonymous with war; that
intolerance is the same as honest dialogue; and
that people who rise up against colonialism and
oppression are terrorists who must be destroyed
by any means necessary.
The
Bush administration, sad to say, has nothing to
offer people who suffered through decades of war
in N. Ireland.
