|
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.
All contents copyright © 2007 Bill Van Dyk All rights reserved.
|
