(This article was written and published in September 2005 following the devastating effects of hurricane Katrina)
First of all let me express my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved, the destitute and especially for the families who have lost loved ones. America is still counting its dead, and searching for the lost. There is an ongoing search-and-rescue operation underway. The painful task of rebuilding and re-birth will continue. The scars will take longer to heal.
While America is, finally, organizing to help the “tired … poor …huddled masses” on an individual, family, local and state level, the nation itself has taken a beating.
For some time now America strutted the world stage as a John Wayne typecast. The archetype of the lone gunmen imposing his values on the community. The judge and jury of bi-lateral conflicts. The arbiter of multinational responsibilities and the authority on everything international.
Americans considered themselves to be above International norms and practices. There seemed to be two separate but simultaneously co-existing worlds. One for America and one for the rest of us. Parallel Universes.
Sea Level Rise and Global Warming- America knew better than all who gathered at Kyoto. Banning Land Mines- American Army should be exempted. International Court of Justice- no, not for the Americans. Rights of Countries and sanctity of National Boundaries –not when America wanted to invade Iraq. The human treatment of prisoners of War- not when they are captured by Americans and imprisoned at Abu Ghuraib and Guantanamo.
Americans truly believed that they were, by virtue of their economy, the might of their army, the wealth of their companies and the collective ego of their political elite, above the mundane.
They were especially confident that Sea Level Rise was an illusion. A phantomlike phenomenon that could not stand the scrutiny of cold hard scientific fact. And if there were implications arising out of the mushy, overly sentimental soft figures of the so called global warming thingy, then it is the small countries that would suffer. The developmentally challenged, resource poor islanders would be the people at risk. Not them. Not Americans.
In this hubris like state they were not receptive to different points of view. This is perhaps best captured in the appointment of Bolton (by-passing Senate approval) to the world body as symbol of their disdain, the contempt with which America treats the world body.
However, Katrina has cut America down to size. It has showed that America’s might is susceptible to natural forces. That in spite of its ability to wipe out armies and bring down regimes hundreds of miles away, that America is just as vulnerable when faced with nature in its majesty. That nature can force America to say “Uncle”.
America has been forced into a situation where it needs and have now called for assistance from other countries, including from the United Nations. It is Lone Ranger no more.
September 2005