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The road to Abu Ghraib
I thought that it was the "good intentions" more than anything else that screws the Americans in every war. If they went to fight for land or for oil they would probably do a good job on it.
"But the altruism that they go in with - to save the poor souls from communism or dictatorship - really hampers them. All war is ugly. If you expect your armed forces to fight like saints - they will end up dead. The Americans somehow expect their army to win without either killing or get killed. Its a dangerous attitude for any armed involvement.
"It's like the line from Godfather. Kay tells Tom Hagen "he's not the man i married'(on Michael Corleone). Tom replies "you would have been a widow if he was."
Call me jaded, but I think there's more than good intentions behind the current White House cabal. They talk about good intentions, as most American adminstrations have, but what's really in play is national interest. It's in the national interest to bring peace and freedom to the Arab world. It's high mindedness of the first order, but it's born more of desperation that altruism.
Arrested development
Thomas Friedman in today's NY Times:"The Bush team has made a mess in Iraq, but the pathologies of the Arab world have also contributed — and the sheer delight that some Arab media take in seeing Iraq go up in flames is evidence of that. It's time for the Arab world to grow up — to stop dancing on burning American jeeps and claiming that this is some victory for Islam."
Spot on. Read the whole piece.
9.5.04 20:10