The US has not succeeded in instituting 'freedom and democracy' in any of the places that it / she / they have intervened. So what is this about? I wonder about the criteria for rationality and how they are applied. - Devorah
The rationality that many of these decision makers are using is the historical examples of converting Japan to a democratic republic after defeating it in war, freeing Europe from Nazism and self-extermination, the rebuilding of S. Korea under similar circumstances, and last but not least the incorporation of East Berlin back into the whole of Germany (still an expensive, ongoing reconstruction budget demand). This is quite persuasive, especially with Americans who have not lived overseas or befriended foreigners to hear different perspectives or who have made it a life's work and study to know that not everything we do from America is interpreted with the same simple good intentions that seem prevalent here. That gullibility factor is discouraging, and to me quite frustrating and embarrassing. I criticize my country because I want it to be better and smarter, not because I do not love it. But I do not believe that today's circumstances resemble those leading up to WW2, for which they are most often compared by Bush & Co. This more resembles the 1914 circumstances where the actions of a few radicals dominoed to a broader, disastrous warfare between armies ill-matched both on the field and by strategy. Unfortunately, the tools of warfare have changed a great deal and this both simplifies the decision for some people and makes it more dangerous to others. I repeat that I do not believe that the majority of Americans are solidly behind this exercise in power, or have a lust for war. There is a state of confusion and concern, but it hasn't taken a strong voice. Perhaps we will not learn fast enough what we need to know and act upon now. There is a significant generational and ideological dynamic struggling beneath the everyday surface. But unless something unexpected and dramatic happens between now and the end of the year, I don't expect the tide to turn against the mythmaking and megaphones at work. Karen Watters Cole
