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October 2, 2004
Iraq looms large over the US. It is only background here in Australia as domestic issues have dominated in the federal election, even if the Murdoch papers rave on about Latham's policy of bringing home Australian troops serving in Iraq by Christmas being "cut and run." The Murdoch press is largely pro-Howard and anti-Latham.
I was unable to see the first US presidential debate. The video is here and the transcript is here. This debate was all about foreign policy and national security: 90-minute forum about foreign policy, dominated by Iraq, with Jim Lehrer, a professional journalist, asking the questions. He also composed the questions, which the candidates had not seen. But why have an audience there when they are not allowed to play any part?
Kerry engaged, Bush defended himself. Mr Kerry declared Iraq a "colossal error of judgment", separated the War on Terror from the War in Iraq, and said that the US should do more to assure international support for pre-emptive military action to show the the world that the US intervened in Iraq for legitimate reasons. Kerry's strategy is that the US will leave Iraq and does not want bases is a positive step toward easing the angst of the regional Arab powers.
The consensus says that Kerry won, but it is unclear just how much of Bush's lead he has managed to claw back. The 24-hour news cycle in the US will inform us.
Hm. In the land of the free, the brave and the beautiful the war against terrorism is seen by the Republicans in theological terms as a battle between "the forces of good" and "the forces of evil." The US President often speaks of American policy as proximate to the will of "the Almighty."
In the land of the free the most dynamic political force in America is the Protestant right.This openly seeks to lessen the liberal gap between the political assembly and the pulpit. As much as any Muslim cleric, the Reverend Jerry Falwell and the Reverend Pat Robertson are both political leaders and religious leaders. One of the most important political alliances in America unites right-wing Protestants and orthodox Jews. For theological reasons, both support the state of Israel.
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