Signs of King George's foolishness abound...
I would love to be wrong about this. However, there are continuing signs that King George has embroiled us in two no-win wars.
Iraq appears to teeter on the verge of civil war among various Muslim sects. Hundreds died this week after a holy shrine was blown up. NPR quotes one Iraqi businessman as saying America was behind the sectarian violence. Even assuming that this is untrue, it is more proof that we are losing the battle for hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. See THIS LINK.
In Afghanistan, there is a massive prison uprising, as well as continued failure to catch Bin Laden. Violence has slowly escalated there as well, although no where near the level in Iraq. See THIS LINK.
All of this U.S. imperialism is directly contrary to Bush's campaign rant against U.S. nation building. During a debate with then-Vice President Al Gore on Oct. 11, 2000, in Winston-Salem, N.C., Bush said: "I don't think our troops ought to be used for what's called nation-building. . . . I think what we need to do is convince people who live in the lands they live in to build the nations. Maybe I'm missing something here. I mean, we're going to have a kind of nation-building corps from America? Absolutely not."
I know that after 9/11/01, Bush's worldview changed. However, this merely shows the problems with his shallowness. He has gone from one extreme to the other. We need to realize we cannot isolate ourselves, yet we need to pull back from trying to fix everything wrong in the world. Balance is the key.
Iraq appears to teeter on the verge of civil war among various Muslim sects. Hundreds died this week after a holy shrine was blown up. NPR quotes one Iraqi businessman as saying America was behind the sectarian violence. Even assuming that this is untrue, it is more proof that we are losing the battle for hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. See THIS LINK.
In Afghanistan, there is a massive prison uprising, as well as continued failure to catch Bin Laden. Violence has slowly escalated there as well, although no where near the level in Iraq. See THIS LINK.
All of this U.S. imperialism is directly contrary to Bush's campaign rant against U.S. nation building. During a debate with then-Vice President Al Gore on Oct. 11, 2000, in Winston-Salem, N.C., Bush said: "I don't think our troops ought to be used for what's called nation-building. . . . I think what we need to do is convince people who live in the lands they live in to build the nations. Maybe I'm missing something here. I mean, we're going to have a kind of nation-building corps from America? Absolutely not."
I know that after 9/11/01, Bush's worldview changed. However, this merely shows the problems with his shallowness. He has gone from one extreme to the other. We need to realize we cannot isolate ourselves, yet we need to pull back from trying to fix everything wrong in the world. Balance is the key.
posted by Mike Grayson @ 11:53 AM
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