Be Afraid

President George W. Bush had all summer to address the nation on the out-of-control situation in Iraq. So why last night? Is it just coincidence that Bush tried to convince the American people the war in Iraq was justified only days before Sept. 11, 2003?

Considering Bush's shameless tendency to use fear as a political tool, it seems as though this was anything but a coincidence. The Bush administration knows the value of fear and has never been afraid to use it.

At every step along the road to war with Iraq, Bush and his cronies used images of Sept.11, fear of mass death and destruction, and color-coded alerts to terrify the American public into believing their lives were in immediate danger - and that immediate action was necessary.

Only days after Colin Powell delivered the United States' case for war to the Security Council, the country went on a high alert for terror - we were told "terrorists" were ready to launch a chemical or biological attack on the United States.

For the first time since Sept. 11, the government told citizens to stockpile food and water. Remember the duct tape?

It's odd the government specifically warned against a chemical or biological attack carried out by vaguely-defined "terrorists" just as Bush was trying to convince the country and the world that Saddam's supposed chemical and biological weapons were an imminent threat.

The alert proved to be unfounded, but that didn't stop Bush's own campaign to terrify the American public into war.

"We know he's out trying once again to produce nuclear weapons, and we know that he has a long-standing relationship with various terrorist groups, including the al-Qaeda organization," Vice President Dick Cheney said on Meet the Press on March 16.

"Before the day of horror can come, before it is too late to act, this danger will be removed," Bush told the nation on March 17.

Half of America and most of the rest of the world was quick to note that rigorous inspections would remove the supposed threat, as opposed to war, with much less of a human cost.

Bush only responded with more statements loaded with doomsday-scenario scare tactics.

"A policy of appeasement could bring destruction of a kind never before seen on this earth," Bush told the nation in the same March 17 speech.

The threats of nuclear or chemical capabilities were, of course, not true and based on poor information. Maybe Bush knew he was lying and maybe he didn't, but what he certainly knew was that he could use these "facts" to capitalize on the fears of post-9/11 America to get his way in Iraq.

This brings us back to last night's speech, only days away from the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in our history. Bush wants people to remember the burning towers, the day of sheer horror, when he tells us Iraq was a necessary battle in the "War on Terror."

Bush wants America to be afraid instead of aware. He wants Americans to be haunted and scared by the ghosts of Sept. 11 when he makes a face-saving speech on his administration's failure to keep the peace on Iraq. Maybe if we are too distracted by fear, we won't notice that Bush screwed up.

The ironic part of the whole mess is that Bush, in manufacturing fake fears, has really given us something to be scared about. He warned of an Iraq full of al-Qaeda operatives; it may not have been at the time, but it certainly is now.

Most of all, Bush has left us - and the rest of the world - with a truly terrifying precedent - that of unilateral and unprovoked war.

Bush and his team don't show any signs of slowing their capitalization of post-9/11 fears. Next year, the Republican National Convention will be held later in the year than ever before, giving the Republicans a date in New York City, only miles away from Ground Zero, only days before another painful anniversary.

Hopefully, America will awaken from its fear-induced slumber and show Bush resoundingly in November that a political agenda based on fear is not appropriate for this country.

They will just have to ignore the election-week terror alert that will no doubt be in the news.