I talked to my father yesterday.
I said, “what do you think of the election?”
He said, “Well, I think that Bush will be good for the country.”
I said, “Mom disagrees with you. She’s disgusted.”
He said, “Well, the new Congress will pull back on the reins a bit, and they’ll control this president’s spending habits.”
I said, “You’re dreaming. There will be more tax cuts, we will get deeper into Iraq and the middle east, and we have wound up with the equivalent of a state-sponsored church.”
He said, “I don’t think there will be any more tax cuts. They’ll cut spending instead.”
I said, “I don’t know what you’re smoking, but it must be some mighty good shit.”
He said, “I know, I know… I think you’re probably right, but I hope you’re wrong.”
You’re right. What was I thinking? WWII wasn’t a good deed until 1957, when the first German and Japanese elections were held, ten years after the surrender. Until then, it was absolute bollocks. Bollocks, I tell you! 9 million Jews in ovens? Piffle! Means nothing until the job is done. In fact, the addempt was demeaning to the Germans and Vichy French! What were we thinking, even attempting such nonsense?
That’s bullshit reasoning, Andrew, and you know it. What we have now if an Iraqi state in transition, being used as a killing ground for the bad people in the region while giving the bulk of the country safety, stability, and security they haven’t seen in two generations, while losing only slightly more soldiers than were injured in the training exercise for D-Day, and creating a structured, democratic state in the region to destabilize and draw out the rest. Its a bold, multi-pronged military/political strategy that won’t be finished overnight but every single stinkin’ day that goes by where people aren’t in terror of their lives from a strong-arm Baathist regime is a good day.
A very good day.
I mean, yeah, Iraq would be a lot better if I were named interim President of Iraq so I could send the volunteer Iraqi police and national guard in Russian-inspired human waves through the Triangle, killing everyone they found, backed by American assets, finally clearing the Sunnis off the board and letting the Kurds and Shia breathe a huge sigh of relief, but Bush apparently wants the Iraqis to work through their little civil conflict diplomaticall and democratically. Not my bag, but I guess it’ll result in fewer deaths all around, and they have to get used to living with each other some time. Go fig.
Iraq is a paragon of light and holiness given we’ve been at it for under 2 years. That’s a nothing-time. For the number of casualties lost and funds spent, Iraq’s so far ahead of any prediction curve right now, its not even funny. Nowhere else on Earth has regime change with the desired end of democracy ever been so successful so swiftly. Ever.
Again, whaddaya want, blood? What measure are you judging it by?
Yeah, I’d say freeing 12 million people from tyrannical dictatorship and another 6million from opressive theocracy is in no way good enough to count as a good deed.
Mr. Bush replied, “In order for Iraq to be a free country, those who are trying to stop the elections and stop a free society from emerging must be defeated.”
It doesn’t count as a good deed until it’s actually accomplished, Alex. What we have right now is a failed Iraqi state, a puppet government, ineffective colonial troops, and a hydra-headed insurgency. The American military forces are stretched thin everywhere, even if they’re not dying in record numbers. Afghanistan is better, but not a lot better.
Contrary to what you may think, I’m willing to give this president some benefit of the doubt.
The stock market is clearly better. There are large number of people still out of work, but that may change. Oil prices are high but dropping. Building material prices are high but dropping. Medicare is in the process of being turned into a vast pool of lab rats to weigh the benefits of various medical procedures, with presumptive benefits both to public medicine and ultimately to the health of the economy.
There are signs of improvement, I agree.
Re: from the NPR junkie:
I hope it gets gutted and filleted. This is our one chance to destroy the legacy of the New Deal. I hope they jump on it with both feet.