M.D. Nalapat
Manipal, India — In 2004, this columnist
annoyed some of his U.S. friends by rooting for George W. Bush for the U.S.
presidency over his rival, John Kerry. The reason was simple: It was the first
presidential poll since 9/11, and a Bush defeat would have given oxygen to the
fanatics now hiding in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas. They would have
ascribed a Bush defeat to no factor other than themselves, as would thousands
of others of like mindset.
George W. Bush has his faults – including a
blindness toward the deeds of his financial backers – but his pulverization of
both the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Saddamites in Iraq ensured that
al-Qaida must cross a very high bar to ensure its geographical preservation
before taking on the U.S. homeland again. Unfortunately, the gains in
Afghanistan are being reversed by a disastrous follow-up strategy.
Kerry would almost certainly have been
tested early in his term with a determined probe, if not an actual attack –
though the odds that this war veteran would respond less forcefully than Bush
may have been close to zero.
By this logic, it may seem preferable for
John McCain to become the next U.S. president, for even Barack Obama’s running
mate, Joe Biden, believes that Obama would be tested early in his term, the way
Kerry would probably have been.
