Citizens need to challenge Bush on reptilian mistakes

A few weeks ago, I was innocently surfing my usual news Web sites when I stumbled upon a most disturbing and gory report: A

13-foot Burmese python recently burst after it tried to swallow a live, 6-foot alligator whole in the Florida Everglades.

A proclaimed weakling with no tolerance for fleshy encounters, this headline made me squeamish. But like any other serious news connoisseur, I read on. An anatomically confounding photograph of the snake with the dead alligator’s hindquarters protruding from its midsection accompanied the report. University of Florida Wildlife Professor Frank Mazzotti said the alligator most likely clawed at the python’s stomach as the snake tried to digest it.

Although I was thoroughly nauseated, I immediately began to wonder how this happened. The Burmese python is not a native snake of the Everglades — rather, many large pythons have been abandoned in Florida by pet owners.

It is safe to say the Burmese python is not the only one to be biting off more than it can chew in places it does not belong. The United States is acting similarly, only this time the alligator is not a reptile but President George W. Bush’s favorite country, Iraq.

So, exactly how close is the U.S. to a ruptured stomach? I would say quite. With Gallup reporting a 58 percent disapproval rating, Bush is nearing a python-meets-alligator encounter.

Approximately 2,000 American service members have died since the start of the war in Iraq, and American impatience with fleeting success in Iraq is increasingly bipartisan. Just last week, six Republicans joined all eight Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to express doubts about the Bush administration’s goals in Iraq at a hearing with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

But there is still time for the U.S. to avoid a python-meets-alligator disaster. In a sense, we can choose not to stomach the alligator. Bush just needs a few little reminders from his constituents.

Citizens who disapprove should criticize current U.S. foreign policy through more than just negative asides and frustrated sighs. Demands for responsibility should spill directly from the mouths and letters of voters and donors, since the demands from Democrats in Congress are obviously insufficient.

In a word, the U.S. needs activism. For all the problematic policy and failing initiatives, Americans are doing little to stop the ongoing approach to Iraq and terrorism. As citizens we have a duty to hold our leadership accountable. The Bush administration should not be able to get away with its uninformed approach to foreign policy. Iraq is one case of lies and deception that the public should not let Bush sweep under the rug.

There should be more people like Cindy Sheehan — whose son died in Iraq and who protested outside Bush’s Crawford ranch in September — from all sides of the political arena. Ultimately, irrespective of political affiliation, American citizens should take more responsibility for what is happening in Iraq. If we do not, we are essentially waiting apathetically for a disaster to hit us in our neighborhood.

And our own policy health is not enough justification to keep closer tabs on Bush and his administration, consider the well-being of the Iraqi people. Dozens of Iraqis die each day from suicide bombs, roadside explosions and shootings. Sunnis and Shi’ites are closer to civil war than ever before. Most importantly, even with the approval of a new constitution, Iraq is still ill-equipped to stand on its own after more than two years of U.S. occupation.

Bush’s policies are not brokering success for the United States, and there are other more successful methods for approaching Iraq and foreign policy in general. So before the alligator of Iraq ravages the U.S. stomach, we as citizens and students must present our passions against the approach to this war and deliver coherent messages of change to the administration.

After all, nobody — including President Bush — likes an alligator ulcer.

Jo Kent is a Baker College senior.

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