American Imperialism?

Where to start, where to start?

Here is a nice long and fairly well written article by Bernard Weiner talking about the evils of the Republican Party in general, and the Bush administration in particular.

There are so many things in the article that I disagree with, it's truly incredible. I could go down a list of points, point by point by point, but this would probably be a little too long of a post (I don't have that much space on my site). So instead I'll pick on just one piece.

Everyone loves a winner, and American citizens are no different. It makes a lot of people feel good that we "won" the battle for Iraq, but in doing so we paid too high a price at that, and may well have risked losing the larger war in the Arab/Muslim region: the U.S. now lacks moral stature and standing in much of the world, it is revealed as a liar for all to see (no WMDs in Iraq, no connection to 9/11, no quick handing-over the interim reins of government to the Iraqis as initially promised), it destroyed a good share of the United Nation's effectiveness and prestige that may come in handy later, it needlessly alienated our traditional allies, it infuriated key elements of the Muslim world, it provided political and emotional ammunition for anti-U.S. terrorists, etc.

Already, we're talking about $80 to $100 billion from the U.S. treasury for reconstruction in Iraq. And the PNACers are gearing up for their next war: let's see, should we move first on Iran or on Syria, or maybe do Syria-lite first in Lebanon?

One can believe that maybe PNAC sincerely believes its rhetoric - that instituting U.S.-style free-markets and democratically-elected governments in Iraq and the other authoritarian-run countries of the Islamic Middle East will be American interests as well - but even if that is true, it's clear that these incompetents are not operating in the world of Middle Eastern realities.

These are armchair theoreticians - most of whom made sure not to serve in the military in Vietnam - who truly believed, for example, that the Iraqis would welcome the invading U.S. forces with bouquets of flowers and kisses when they "liberated" their country from the horribleness of Saddam Hussein's reign. The Iraqis, by and large, were happy to be freed of Saddam's terror, but, as it stands now, the U.S. military forces are more likely to be engulfed in a political/religious quagmire for years there, as so many of the majority Shia population just want the occupying soldiers to leave.

And yet PNAC theorists continue to believe that remaking the political structure of the Middle East - by force if necessary, although they hope the example of what the U.S. did to Iraq will make war unnecessary - will be fairly easy.

These are men of big ideas, but who don't really think. They certainly don't think through what takes place in the real world, when the genies of war and religious righteousness are let out of the bottle.

Statements like this really, really annoy me. They ignore or twist the basic facts of the situation that we find ourselves in.

We are at war with the radical Islamists. We have been since long before 9/11. The only change since 9/11 is that we have finally recognized the fact and have consequently begun to act on it. 9/11 was not the beginning of a war, but it may very well be the beginning of the end of it. We have now shown that we have the courage and conviction to stand up to the terrorists and as a result they're now fighting for relevance, rather than for a broader purpose.

Bush and the Republican Party are not the ones guilty of not thinking in this case. Terrorists like bin Laden and Saddam didn't think through what the consequences of waking the American giant would be. They let out the genies of war and religious righteousness, not us. We fear not the genies because we don't rely on them. Our nation, our military, our people are grounded in a reality which doesn't count on the whims of a deity or a fantasy. We believe in the actions of man.

If you don't agree with the war in Iraq, that's fine. If you think that we're combating terrorism the wrong way, that's ok too. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and reasonable people can disagree without either party necessarily being wrong.

It's just that both parties have to analyze the same facts and realities.