There are many strange things happening in the US elections. The agenda of the Bush campaign is one. Bush is an upholder of good, conservative Christian values. His opponent has been labelled as a representative of the extreme left, an ultra-liberal. In making the distinction, the Bush camp is also injecting a value judgement, that conservative Christian values are good and liberal, left views are bad and they are basing this value judgement on religion! The reason? There is a hardcore of Americans comprising significant part of the population who believe in this agenda and the Bush campaign is aiming at this constituency. To this hardcore Americans, it matters little how well articulate Kerry is in the debates; how solid are his facts; or even how patriotic he is, having won three purple hearts in Vietnam. They are willing to give Bush the nod despite leading the US to invade Iraq on false premises and losing focus on terrorism by leaving Osama bin Laden free in Afghanistan. So he could invade Iraq where Saddam had no links with terrorists. They would vote for Bush on his Christian credentials.

It is unbelievable that Bush still has a very good chance of winning the election in world's only superpower nation. With this credentials, he would lose miserably in any other country.

An awareness of history is what scares me, for a force is working to start a new "crusade" using the war on terrorism and 9/11 as excuses. The experience of a Muslim visitor to the US at the hands of Homeland Security and Immigration would attest to what I am trying to say.