The Hindu Business Line : Turning of the tide in the US

There can be no doubt that the attention of the entire world was riveted on the fortunes of the Democrat and Republican parties in the US Congressional elections of November 7. Whether one admits it or not, the happenings in the US cast a hypnotic spell on the people in all other countries.

An important reason is that, by virtue of the clout of the US as militarily the most powerful, technologically the most advanced and economically the most productive, the outcome of the elections there and the consequent changes in political equations have a bearing on the future course of politics and economics in a globalised environment.

Yearning for change

What was thus true in ordinary times assumed an unusual piquancy in respect of the elections just held. This can also be easily explained. The US has become polarised as never before, except at the time of the Vietnam war in the 1960s, over its self-inflicted entanglement in Iraq resulting in the loss of lives of close to 3,000 American troops and untold number of Iraqi civilians, besides a drain of $300-500 billion, with still no end in sight. The memory of being fed with grounds that were subsequently proved false for the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq has also been rankling in the minds of the electorate. The hanky-panky going on in the awarding of contracts for the so-called reconstruction of Iraq; the unbelievable mismanagement and swindling of public funds in the relief and rehabilitation of victims of the Katrina floods; the public expression of resentment by retired Generals against the former Secretary of Defence, Mr Donald Rumsfeld; the shocking revelations of barbaric excesses committed at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay; the misuse of the powers of the US Government to indulge in unauthorised surveillance over citizens and setting up of secret interrogation camps by the CIA, keeping both the people and the Congress in the dark; a seemingly unsure and unsteady Administration groping in the dark in the face of complex challenges — thanks to these worrisome features, the stock of the present ruling neo-con coterie, and the President, Mr George W. Bush, himself plummeted to levels not touched in living memory by any other previous Administration.

Nuclear deal

The voting has only reflected the palpable sense of frustration and discontent on all these counts and the yearning for a change of direction. The Democrats have been handed a golden opportunity to demonstrate leadership and determination by coming out with a credible master plan to right the mistakes of the past.

They should not botch it. They should unrelentingly turn the heat on the Administration to hand over Iraq to the Iraqis and quit within a specific time-frame, not extending beyond the next 12 months.

What does gaining the control of the House of Representatives and the Senate by the Democrats mean for India? The lame-duck Congress will have neither the time nor the inclination to touch the nuclear deal, and almost certainly pass the buck to the membership of the two new Houses. But, in their preoccupation with far more compelling issues, such as Iraq, the Bill is unlikely to be uppermost in their minds. The most dignified course for India is to stop fretting and let events unravel as they may.

B. S. RAGHAVAN