bloody mother fucking asshole*
Fittingly, the President ended his address with the neoconservative prayer -- that what appears to sane and civilized people as tragic and brutal wars in Iraq and in Lebanon are really glorious "opportunities" which we should celebrate and for which we should be grateful -- beautiful "birth pangs" on the road to a majestic transformation:This moment of conflict in the Middle East is painful and tragic. Yet it is also a moment of opportunity for broader change in the region. Transforming countries that have suffered decades of tyranny and violence is difficult, and it will take time to achieve. But the consequences will be profound -- for our country and the world. When the Middle East grows in liberty and democracy, it will also grow in peace, and that will make America and all free nations more secure.
Again, aside from the genuinely repugnant and casual celebration of carnage, none of this makes even basic sense. The two countries on which Israel is waging war, Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority, both have democratically elected governments, as does, at least to some degree, the country on which we most want to wage war, Iran. By contrast, the closest and most reliable allies we have in that region -- Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan -- are the least democratic. The notion that we can bomb the Middle East into peace-loving, pro-U.S. democracies is painfully, self-evidently absurd by now, but the President believes it.
The neoconservative extremists are ridiculed on an almost daily basis, because the extent of their ever-increasing lunacy is truly difficult to fathom. But that mindset is not merely some fringe radicalism but, instead, has been driving our foreign policy for the last five years. And it still is, because the individual who happens to be the President, along with the omnipotent Vice President, are full-fledged adherents to this approach, and while scores of people marvel at how increasingly deranged the Bill Kristols and Richard Perles of the world seem to be, those who occupy the White House believe they speak great wisdom and are listening intently to (and outright echoing) what they have to say.
Froomkin
President Bush's "moment of opportunity" in the Middle East is increasingly looking like an opportunity for disaster.
Bush's official position is that some blood-spilling in the Middle East is worth it in pursuit of the region's positive transformation.
Even in the wake of an Israeli airstrike Sunday that killed 57 civilians in the Southern Lebanese town of Qana, every terse presidential acknowledgment of the human toll is accompanied by soaring rhetoric about freedom and democracy and lasting stability.
In the best of circumstances, Bush would be running the risk of being considered callous. But in the current circumstances, he runs the risk of being considered both callous and delusional.
By almost no stretch of the imagination is the current conflict strengthening Bush's hand or advancing democracy. Rather, it appears to be emboldening Bush's enemies.
*With apologies to Martha Wainwright
1 comment:
It is easy to sit back and poke sticks at whomever is in charge. Whether it be the president or a parent. I'm a soldier, sitting in Iraq yet again. I'm a Special Forces soldier who has been here since the first Gulf War. You all can sit in your easy chairs and mock what the government does with it's foriegn policy but you have no idea beyond CNN what is going on here. How much these people hate us, how they want nothing more than to see us die. Most Americans have some stupid idea that if we leave they will go away. I'm sure that 9/11 was a fluke and we provoked the attack that killed almost 3000 people. As of right now there have been 2700+ deaths in Iraq since the start of this war, and it doesn't look like it will end anytime soon. You all take the passive stance and hope that somehow everyone will just get along. Ask Rodney King, didn't work for him. Look around you at all the arabs living amoung you. How many of them do you think are willing to die for a religious belief? Well, if they follow the Quarn then that would be every last one of them. Why would they want to kill you, mr/ms passive American? Because your not a muslim. Wish it were something big but it isn't. They hate you because your a dirty pig, infidel. I laugh at your ignorance because you will be the first to die when they attack. You think they just want us out. No, they want us dead they want the world to be muslim. Whether you believe in God or not isn't of any consiquence. They hate you because you don't believe in Allah.
You scream about how stupid bush is, but you think Clinton was a hero. He was an idiot, do you even know how many attacks were made against US interst during his watch? I was at Kobar towers when it was hit. There was no rhyme or reason for it. The military was closing bases, consolidating their forces and sending people home. Our reward, was to be blown up by a gas truck.
While you may say "good, soldiers need to die, they are warmongers"...we are Americans insuring that peace is maintained so you can sit there and make fun of us and call us killers, murders, and claim this is an illegal war. If it truly was illegal, the UN would have brought charges up on us by now. And, no, we do not control the UN or any of its deligates.
You have no idea how much damage you do to the moral of soldiers here with your words of hate and discontent for us, the US, and our president. It makes me sick to hear these rag head, goat smelling, piece of shit sand nigs laugh at my face and tell me that my own people hate me; go home. Why go home? Who is going to be there to welcome me? You? I doubt it, you've not cared since 9/13/01. I'm old news now. Its people like you who will not stand behind the president and this country in its time of need, instead you sway like wheat in the wind at each and every novelty. America does need to die, it needs to be weeded out and maybe even destroyed. Maybe you might appreciate what we have in America. You want to complain fine, do it but make it constructive. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
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