The Ugly American

NEW DELHI - Hindu priests who look after the memorial of Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi conducted a purification ceremony at the shrine after a visit from
President Bush.

This lede from a story about Bush's recent visit to the subcontinent for photo ops, business deals, and casually destroying decades of nuclear non-proliferation efforts seemed perfect. After all, the very idea that the man who ordered a war of aggression upon Iraq, and who has worked tirelessly to impose the will of the elites on the masses should visit the memorial of a man who dedicated his life to nonviolence and the common man was preposterous.

But as is so often the case, the details provide a richness not apparent at first. It wasn't actually Bush's mere presence that triggered the priest's actions.

But it wasn't the president who offended them, it was the sniffer-dogs who scoured the area ahead of his visit.

After the dog visit, the memorial was cleansed with water brought from the Ganges river, which Hindus consider holy, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported Sunday.
...

The dogs, flown in from the U.S., were part of the intense security surrounding the president, but the Hindu priests believe they tainted the site.

Letting dogs into the memorial also drew sharp protest from Hindu politicians and Gandhi's great grandson, Tushar Gandhi, who called the incident a "national shame," the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

Of course, HRH George couldn't go anywhere without it being completely locked down and secured by a small army of security, including sniffer-dogs, even if it is insulting to his hosts. Why? Because he is afraid. He is so enmeshed in a cycle of violence in which he has been a eager participant, that he must fear it follows him wherever it goes. Which is why his visiting this site is so absurd.

What part of Gandhi's example has meaning for Mr. Bush? George would be far too cowardly to undertake civil disobedience, to allow soldiers to beat him without raising a fist, to allow himself to be jailed for a principle. While commemorating the great man, did it occur to him to wonder why the British didn't just force-feed the hunger-striking Gandhi through a tube shoved through his nose, as Mr. Bush's government is doing to detainees in Guantanamo? Both men fought taxes, but when Gandhi protested the salt tax, it certainly wasn't to return millions of dollars to the rich men who ruled. Is it even possible to imagine that someday Bush might retire to his ranch, and embark upon a campaign of economic democracy, encouraging the average American to cut his ties to the global corporations that dominate our world? George living in home-spun? Let's be serious.

For the Hindu priests, it may have been the presence of dogs that tainted the visit, but for me, it is really the photo-op visit by the Anti-Gandhi himself that truly seems dirty.