“Recent polling reveals that only 57 per cent feel Trump’s Republicans will keep America ‘safe’ from their enemies and a risible 36 per cent say Biden and his Democrats will do the job,” reports “The Gadfly” columnist ROBERT MACKLIN.

REMEMBER “Shock and Awe”? It is seared into my brain – a kind of New Year’s Eve fireworks extravaganza, but with real bullets and deadly cruise missiles. 

It was the beginning of a US bombing campaign to “soften up” Iraq’s military as American ground forces began their invasion in 2003.

It was not entirely successful, either in Iraq or Afghanistan but the 43rd US President George W Bush was determined to implant American democracy in place of Muslim “terrorism”. His declaration of “Mission Accomplished” was also premature and Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction” turned out to be a fib. However, at least his motives were commendable. 

After all, this was the nation that in 1887 emblazoned on its Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

A lot has happened since 1887 and lots more since 2003. Last week “The New York Times” quoted the 45th President, Donald Trump bemoaning those very masses: “It’s poisoning the blood of our country. It’s so bad, and people are coming in with disease. People are coming in with every possible thing that you could have.”

This is the same Donald Trump who decided to build a wall right across the southern border to keep those huddled masses out. And such is his influential political power that the 46th President, the Democrat Joe Biden, who used to be outraged by his predecessor’s fencing program, is now actively promoting it. 

So, if the wall will keep them out and both presidential contenders support annual defence spending greater than every other nation on earth combined, how do we explain this: recent polling reveals that only 57 per cent feel Trump’s Republicans will keep America “safe” from their enemies and a risible 36 per cent say Biden and his Democrats will do the job.

That same day, coincidentally, came an ABC television news report of a tour of China’s Xinjiang province by about 20 international journalists. That’s where China had responded to the “terrorism” of the Muslim Uyghurs with a re-education program.

“It included Urumqi,” said reporter David Lipson, “a flashpoint of unrest in the past. We were allowed to walk around and film unrestricted, past midnight and without a minder. 

“Uyghur families appeared relaxed as they enjoyed kebabs and sheep brains at the bustling night markets. Those we spoke to said the city was safe and their lives were good.” 

The reporters were denied a visit to the former re-education facilities However, Lipson said, he and a US reporter approached a souvenir vendor who claimed to have spent time in such a facility. 

“He wasn’t provided by the tour guides,” Lipson said. Imamu Maimaiti Sidike, a father of three, showed no outward sign of intimidation as he impassively described his former “extremely radical religious ideologies” that saw him locked up for seven months. 

“I didn’t allow my wife to work,” he said. “I believed that if we spent her income, we would go to hell and [I] forced her to stay home. I also promoted these values to the people around me.”  

Lipson said: “He denied any mistreatment at the facility, claiming he ate 

well, played chess and read books and was even allowed to go home on weekends.” The result was effective. 

“Through my studies,” Imamu Maimaiti Sidike said, “I realised that radical religious views harm people. I no longer have this mindset. I can get along with people of any ethnicity and faith.”

Awesome?

robert@robertmacklin.com