Slavoj Zizek Psychoanalyzes U.S. Foreign Policy in Iraq
The Bush Administration's conflicting movtives for invading Iraq resulted in the current foreign policy debacle, argues Slavoj Zizek in the Jan/Feb 2004 issue of Foreign Policy. Zizek's article, Iraq's False Promises makes the case that the U.S.'s three main reasons for invading Iraq -- to promote democracy, assert U.S. hegemony, and secure a stable energy supply -- are mutuallly exlusive and cannot simultaneously succeed. One needn't subscribe to Zizek's psychoanalytic arguments to recognize the truth of one of Zizek's key points; namely, that a truly democratic Iraq will most likely be an anti-American Muslim state that will want to capitalize on its oil resources. I suspect that Bush & co. were intent upon establishing a puppet regime in Iraq all along, and simply cloaked their realpolitikal intentions in democratic rhetoric; or, more likely, Vice Prez. Cheney intended to establish a puppet regime in Iraq and sold the idea to Dubya, who may have actually believed his administration could succeed where his Daddy's administration failed. It's scary to think that Dubya might want to do more than simply emancipate Iraq in the name of democracy. That is, as an evangelical Christian true believer, Dubya might believe that it's his duty to 'cleanse' Iraq of Muslim fundamentalists to pave the way not for a secular Iraq, but for a (Judeo)-Christian nation. But it's unhealthy to speculate what, if anything, passes through the mind of 'President' Bush. Here's hoping he gets the boot before he instigates armageddon.
The Bush Administration's conflicting movtives for invading Iraq resulted in the current foreign policy debacle, argues Slavoj Zizek in the Jan/Feb 2004 issue of Foreign Policy. Zizek's article, Iraq's False Promises makes the case that the U.S.'s three main reasons for invading Iraq -- to promote democracy, assert U.S. hegemony, and secure a stable energy supply -- are mutuallly exlusive and cannot simultaneously succeed. One needn't subscribe to Zizek's psychoanalytic arguments to recognize the truth of one of Zizek's key points; namely, that a truly democratic Iraq will most likely be an anti-American Muslim state that will want to capitalize on its oil resources. I suspect that Bush & co. were intent upon establishing a puppet regime in Iraq all along, and simply cloaked their realpolitikal intentions in democratic rhetoric; or, more likely, Vice Prez. Cheney intended to establish a puppet regime in Iraq and sold the idea to Dubya, who may have actually believed his administration could succeed where his Daddy's administration failed. It's scary to think that Dubya might want to do more than simply emancipate Iraq in the name of democracy. That is, as an evangelical Christian true believer, Dubya might believe that it's his duty to 'cleanse' Iraq of Muslim fundamentalists to pave the way not for a secular Iraq, but for a (Judeo)-Christian nation. But it's unhealthy to speculate what, if anything, passes through the mind of 'President' Bush. Here's hoping he gets the boot before he instigates armageddon.
cheers,
Laceybutt