Rant of the Week

The Remarkable Achievement of George Bush Jr.

The United States is pouring billions of dollars into Iraq.  It has decided that of all the things in the world it could spend billions of dollars on, it will spend these billions on making life better for the average Iraqi, by removing an evil dictator and turning their country into a thriving capitalist democracy.  

The result of all this, as reporters have long noticed:  the average Iraqi hates America.  When U.S. soldiers drive down the streets on patrol, they are greeted with fearful faces.  When the Americans react to a bomb attack by shooting everyone on the street, including a just married 16-year-old, an infant, and an old man, and then declares that they behaved exactly as they were trained and would do it again....  The average Iraqi, if he was in a generous mood, could be excused for thinking to himself, "well, they're not very good at this are they?"

Never was less achieved with more money.  Really--  I can't think of anything that cost more but achieved less.  The closest second I can think of is the former Shah of Iran's coronation party, which helped lay the foundation for the overthrow of the Shah, the taking of American hostages, the revolutionary government in Tehran, war between Iran and Iraq, U.S. assistance to Iraq (yes, to Saddam Hussein), the invasion of Kuwait, and so on and so on.  Now:  here we are.

The average 10-year-old could do better with this money than George Bush did.  The average 10-year-old, given billions of dollars, would buy everyone in Iraq a flat-panel TV screen and a Play-station.  And everyone in Iraq would love America.  They'd all be watching American Idol.  They would, like American Christians, pay outward respect to their religion, bow and pray and mumble the sacred verses, and then get back to the Mario Brothers as quickly as possible.

We took away their government and police forces and started a civil war between two different religious groups which, under Saddam Hussein, had been getting along fairly well.  We smacked the hornet's nest and can't control anything.  We've installed a government that is quietly complicit with Shiite death squads and can't wait for us to leave so they can finish the job properly.

Yet Richard Perle stumbles along in a bizarre documentary shown on PBS the other night insisting that all is well.  Didn't you know it would take ten, twenty years to stabilize Iraq?  Oh-- sorry, we forgot to tell you.  Actually, there was no need to tell you-- it is necessary for the survival of America that certain leaders who understand the true nature of the world occasionally need to exercise leadership in undemocratic fashion, in order to preserve our incredibly precious freedoms and liberties.

John McCain, George Bush, Condoleeza Rice-- all still on board.  Rudolph Giuliani?  Invading Iraq was a great idea!  It was so great, I'd do it again. 

In an sane world, I would add here:  I am not making this up.

 

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