It's also chilling. While I think my original assesment (http://suicidegirls.com/boards/Current+Events/13538/) of the war holds up pretty well, I was tragically wrong about one thing. My operating assumption was the Bush & company were cynical liars--and that wasn't entirely bad. The humantarian rehetoric, I thought, was just a hook to sucker gullible idealists and uncritical apologists for the administration. Whatever my disagreements, I at least assumed that our foreign policy was being controlled by people somewhat more knowledgable and sophisticated than Andrew Sullivan or James Lileks. I still disagreed with the realist case for war: I think the costs far outweighed the benefits, and I would hire the Three Stooges to build a proton accelerator before I would trust Bush with a project of this scope and ambition. But I thought we were disagreeing from the same premises.
But as Packer demonsrates in detail, it's much worse than that. They're liars, but not cynics. They actually believed this shit. They sincerely believed that democracy could be easily be imposed, by force, in a poor country with no history of representative institutions and riven by ethnic and religious conflicts. They really thought that an exile removed by decades and with little internal support would be widely accepted as a leader. They really thought we would be greeted as liberators. They really think that a government installed by the US could recognize Israel. They really think that a U.S. occupation would produce a domino effect making the middle east democratic. And they were so sure of these things they had no Plan B. With no evidence, logic, or history to back them up, they bought 2 tons of aluminum siding and several hundred acres of Florida swampland from Ahmed Chalabi.
And that's truly frightening. Intelligent Machiavellian cyncis may, at least, use the wrong means to advance policy that's in the national interest. But people who believe in neoconservative leprechauns and unicorns, who believe that foreign policy is a Disney movie...the damage they can do is pretty much endless.
And if you just look at the display behind door number 1...
Afghanistan recently ratified a constitution literally based on the Koran which was nspected by the old king. It's just another honey jar, just with less honey.
Forward the uber-capitalist swine to defraud the people and ensure free trade (for me) and human rights (for me!) and as much wealth as you can possibly imagine (for ME!)
Ahh, excuse the cynical rhetoric. I hang my head in shame... and yet...
scooter11
USA
OLD SKOOL
NOV 29, 2003 04:08 PM