Tearing down Donald Trump
The Donald just doesn't know how not to spoil his legitimate populist ideas but that does not mean we must dismiss them. I have followed from afar, the political establishment in the US who back Hilary Clinton unleash wave after wave of attacks against him using a willing media yet he is still standing.
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Some of the attacks are rightfully justified. Quite a few others are simply 'dirty' politics. The latest effort to take the Donald down by the political establishment is shameless. To use a private Muslim citizen whose son died in battle against the candidate of a major political party is a new low.
Mr Khan, whose son died fighting for the US army in Iraq, should simply have made his point and gone away. But alas, Mr Khan’s bashing of Mr Trump was too good to let go, so he has been positioned left, right and centre, doing what many before him tried to do with much less success.
This has created the suspicion that he is being used. The man has gone way beyond what is acceptable, all in the name of being a ‘so called’ Gold Star Parent - one of those overblown concepts that the US is famous for.
When it comes to veterans and war heroes, the US government and people reason only emotionally.
In a cynical way, soldiers that give their lives in aid of interventionist foreign policies and the military industrial complex are remembered and honoured fiercely for what is presented as a national cause. In America, you don't dare criticise the men and women in uniform; more so when they have made the 'ultimate sacrifice'.
It's absurd how much "false premium" is placed on veterans of war. If their governments really care, why do they send so many young men in harm’s way? For what? What really are they fighting for? Peace at home through war abroad? Over 4000 young American men have been killed in Iraq alone.
Interventionist foreign policy
Since 9/11, Americans have been made to believe that they are hated by Islamic terrorists who resort to mindless violence simply because of their way of life. The truth though is that President George W. Bush miscalculated and reacted very poorly after 9/11.
By sending his military to Iraq and the subsequent actions by the men in uniform, he created deadly enemies for the USA and the country continues to pay the price till this day. The attack on Iraq based on trumped up charges that Saddam Hussein was preparing to use weapons of mass destruction was a terrible mistake.
They were in such a hurry to lash out (the way terrorist organisations do) that they forgot to make a plan for the day after. President Bush detained and tortured people without trial. Guantanamo became the place of preferred incarceration for many without any charges preferred against them.
Bush ignited a powder keg and retired. Obama had his job cut out for him from the start. Eliminate Osama bin Laden. And he did. Well, Osama bin laden is dead but terrorism is alive and well.
ISIS eclipses Al Qaeda when it comes to horrific acts of violence against innocent people. The world is seeing more and more terrorist incidents and it is no safer today than yesterday if not worse.
In attacking Libya, another theatre of terrorist operation was opened. They say they had to intervene because he was threatening fire and brimstone on his compatriots in Benghazi. The US needs to rethink its interventionist foreign policy.
Together with the French, who have their own murky history of involvement in North Africa and the Middle East, there is an aggressive foreign policy streak that requires toning down.
Is it any wonder that they are the primary object of attack of militant Islamic terrorist groups? Because the US is so out of their reach, Europe, France in particular, has become the easy target. And all Mr Hollande can say is "They hate our way of life" and "they are attacking our freedoms".
Ending terrorism
Truth be told, much of the terrorist attacks we are witnessing are in more ways than one the lashing out of adversaries who have no other way of fighting back. Terrorism is a terrible thing because it does not distinguish between guilty and innocent people. It simply lashes out in response; in much the same way as President Bush did after 9/11.
The world must come together to put an end to this scourge. It brings out the worst in us and diminishes our humanity. Sadly, we are not winning the battle. Travelling has become a nightmare and armed police are today very much present on the streets, at airports, vacation resort facilities and other public places.In effect, our freedom of movement has been very much restricted.
The UK put out 600 security agents earlier this week. Surely, things are getting worse. No one is left out. You can't enter the premises of a hotel in faraway Accra these days without having to join a queue of cars waiting to be searched.
Rather than engage in a meaningful discussion about what the underlying factors are for such extreme acts of violence by the terrorists against "the western world", the American political establishment offers a rather pathetic simplistic explanation that terrorists hate "the way of life of a free society". And the media in America buy this and sell it. And the people believe it and support the many military interventions that America has undertaken to "protect" what they call America’s interest.
The pressure to be involved in other parts of the world is so strong that Barack Obama even couldn't resist it, preferring instead to kill via drone warfare than actual boots on the ground. On the other hand, is poverty and a loss of hope not the underlying factor for all these terrorists’ acts?
Donald’s utterances
So when Donald Trump suggests (albeit in a confused manner) that he wants to address the misplaced priorities of US foreign policy and focus rather on “making America great again", the rest of the world really ought to heave a sigh of relief.
If his plan is to reduce American military adventurism around the world, he will be well on his way to defeating terrorism. After all, Osama bin Laden never hid the motivations for his actions : remove your interventionist troops from Muslim lands.
The Donald speaks about things that no American politician would have the courage to raise. He says the US would be a safer place if only it would stop meddling in the affairs of Islamic countries. He is not for regime change. He is wary of US foreign intervention.
Yes, he says he will make the US army the best in the world so "no one messes with us". That's fine since his focus is on defending the US and its people rather than invading other countries. He says 70 year old NATO arrangements are not sacrosanct and they are up in arms.
He doesn't dislike Putin and that is not allowed. He says he'll build a wall to fight the drug invasion from south of its border and all hell breaks loose. (Actually he will build no such wall). If only he would avoid the insults.
If only Mr Trump wasn't Mr Trump. The messenger is working against the message. But it is a shame because American greatness is not only about being the leading economy of the world, it is also about a foreign policy of “live and let’s live” and respect the rights of other sovereign nations while helping to genuinely reduce poverty in the world. That is certainly one way of Making America great again.
America needs to be careful about the length to which it is going in tearing down Mr Trump. He could very easily be their next President.
