Karen, Of course we will perform a "clean military strike".
The war will be over by Christmas and the boys will be coming home. At least, that's what they said in August, 1914. Harry ---------------------------------------------------------------- Karen wrote: >I agree with you, Ed, that the chances of a clean military surgical strike >are immature and there will be a huge and sustained backlash if victory is >not quick and followed by key changes in the region. From what I ve read >about him, forget dyslexia vs dysphasia, he has a short term attention >span that is tied more to the business bottom line than the development of >long term projects and that is exactly what scares our allies. > >Iraq is not Kosovo, it is not a conglomeration of failing post-communist >states, though there are some similarities. Eastern Europe is not teeming >in fundamentalist rants against the Great Satan. They want to join the >Great Satan in economic recovery and expanded personal opportunities. >While there are very good arguments for regime change in the Middle East, >they have not been delivered by Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld in a way that makes >it clear and unequivocal; what we know of their plans seem obtuse and >haphazard, and there has been no visionary voice. Bush is too encumbered >by his Hamlet baggage to have the pure motives of a mythical hero and >Americans are reluctant to mobilize without a righteous cause. I don t >think we are ready to become Darth Vader when we still think of ourselves >as Luke Skywalker. > >A cynical aside: There has been so much attention paid to the widows and >survivor families of the 9/11 attacks and such a sea change in popular >culture about death and grief (largely due to the school shootings) that I >speculate an aversion to body bags is not the worst claim to notoriety we >might have in the annals of history. We lost 300,000 in WW2, I believe, >and there was not this glorifying culture of death about it, but following >on the tremendous commercial success of The Greatest Generation (which is >deserving) and its offspring, there may be media forces at work that are >manipulating popular sentiment contrary to recent assumptions. > >Furthermore, I don t buy this Us vs Them that is solely based on the >oft-mentioned reasoning that they hate us because we stand for liberty . > >Perhaps I ve learned too much listening to panel discussions and >interviews with voices from the Middle East on Lehrer Newshour, but IMHO >it s foolish to categorize the vague terrorist enemy as haters of liberty >the terrorists are very specific even in their myopic bellicose >rantings. Zakaria makes a good case in his Bin Laden s Bad Bet piece >that fundamentalism is undercut, at least as political powers, because >they cannot have political power as long as they cannot say their own name >out loud as international outlaws, and the street furor will die down as >the mullahs are silenced. That s the key here, isn t it? Making sure we >don t give the mullahs another great opportunity to reignite the flames. > >ED wrote: In general, Sir Michael Howard notwithstanding, there is no >single specific adversary. There are millions and perhaps potentially >billions of them. My fear about what Bush may be unleashing is something >that will fester for centuries. In a previous posting, I suggested that >the US attack on Iraq will begin an endless chain of body bags. Someone >shot me down by saying no, no, no, the Americans will very quickly beat up >on Husain. I agree, but that will only be the first step in something >that will go one for a very long time. > >By the way, Time magazine has a good point-counterpoint dialogue in its >Sept. 11 issue, between Andrew Sullivan and Michael Elliot about if >America has really changed and then they ve also posted commentary by >author Philip Bobbitt, who seems to have been very influential within the >Bush Administration, titled Get Ready for the Next Long War. Sen. McCain >also writes that we have to fight for democracy everywhere. Is his the >visionary voice? Bush has not asked us to sacrifice for a worthy goal >(yet), but McCain seems to relish his role of leading where others don t >yet want to go. Will Bush meet that challenge? > >Karen ****************************** Harry Pollard Henry George School of LA Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: (818) 352-4141 Fax: (818) 353-2242 *******************************
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