Oblique March
You know the nearer your destinationThe more you're slip slidin' away
--Slip Slidin' Away, Paul Simon
Government is not the solution to the problem.
Government is the problem
--Ronald Reagan
___________
With all the self-congratulatory focus on health care reform, Ranger would like to do an oblique march and look at the big picture.
Nine years and six months later and we are still wrapped up in a fetal defensive position. What have we accomplished during this period? Does it even matter?
- Iraq has tenuous elections; same, Afghanistan. Neither country is functioning as a nation-state. There is a lack of political consensus, but that is true here, too.
- The Turkish government had drifted towards Islamic fundamentalism and is increasingly allied with Iran, a direct result of U.S. actions empowering Kurdish separatists in the region.
- The entire region has been destabilized by empowering and removing the traditional counterbalances to Shia dominance.
- Saudi Arabia is drifting slowly away from U.S. influence.
- Nuclear proliferation in the region in being subtly supported by U.S. agreements with India, and now the same considerations may be extended to Pakistan. These policies are based upon mistaken beliefs that Pakistan is a regional ally.
- The U.S. has alienated our traditional "Old Europe" allies.
- Secret prisons and rendition may be still be operational. There has been no definite denial of their continued existence. The CIA may not use water boarding and torture, but the Joint Special Operations Command suffers no such prohibitions.
- Warrantless wiretaps in the U.S. continue under presidential fiat.
- We are still clueless regarding what to do with the hostages being detained at the Guantanamo Bay
prisonholding facility. We are their prisoners, as they are ours.
- We have gotten 4,000+ U.S. military personnel killed, 35,000 wounded, and 4,000+ messed up beyond return to a functional private life.
- We have killed and wounded unaccountable numbers of Iraqi and Afghani citizens.
- The actions of the Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©) have enabled Iran to directly challenge Saudi Arabia in region, thereby decreasing the chance of a successful Mideast peace process.
Bottom Line: We are the saboteurs to the much-vaunted Middle East Peace process which we would claim we wish to help broker.
Labels: mideast peace process, phony war on terror, PWOT, turkey, war on terror
posted by rangeragainstwar at 8:14 PM
7 Comments:
Yup.
A nation at war against a largely civilian insurrection (in two different geographic locations!) lacks the moral authority to talk about other people making peace with a largely civilian insurrection. 'Nuff said on that.
-BT
what happened to the "iraqi's are going to pay for this with oil revenue."
or "ten months and this will be over"
or...
or...
george w. bush lies so much he has to hire people to call his dog.
Yep nation building going really will isn't. It's like ground hog day, we just won't learn for the past.
i've found a new song to make me feel better.....
GD,
Funny, I was just discussing this way of feeling "better" with a radio station mgr. She said sometimes she looks for mellow music, but sometimes, nothing but 9 inch nails will do.
I guess it's like being overstimulated into passivity (?)
Grover Norquist - protege of Ronald Reagan - "I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub." I think Bush I and Bush II bought into this idea and huge strides have been make since the days of St. Ronnie. We'll be on par with Mexico in no time.
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