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Good Versus Evil Isn’t A Strategy
by Madeleine AlbrightThe Bush administration’s newly unveiled National Security Strategy might well be subtitled “The Irony of Iran.” Three years after the invasion of Iraq and the invention of the phrase “axis of evil,” the administration now highlights the threat posed by Iran — whose radical government has been vastly strengthened by the invasion of Iraq. This is more tragedy than strategy, and it reflects the Manichean approach this administration has taken to the world.
It is sometimes convenient, for purposes of rhetorical effect, for national leaders to talk of a globe neatly divided into good and bad. It is quite another, however, to base the policies of the world’s most powerful nation upon that fiction. The administration’s penchant for painting its perceived adversaries with the same sweeping brush has led to a series of unintended consequences.
The top leaders in the new Iraq — chosen in elections that George W. Bush called “a magic moment in the history of liberty” — are friends of Iran. When the U.S. invaded Iraq, Bush may have thought he was striking a blow for good over evil, but the forces unleashed were considerably more complex.
The administration is now divided between those who understand this complexity and those who do not. On one side, there are ideologues, such as the vice president, who apparently see Iraq as a useful precedent for Iran. Meanwhile, officials on the front lines in Iraq know they cannot succeed in assembling a workable government in that country without the tacit blessing of Iran; hence, last week’s long-overdue announcement of plans for a U.S.-Iranian dialogue on Iraq — a dialogue that if properly executed might also lead to progress on other issues.
Twenty one comments to this point, and not once is that tiny little three letter word OIL mentioned.
T.C. Moore makes the best point posted that I have seen so far about the problems Bush has caused. I did think that this was hilarious coming from Madeline Albright who has absolutely no credibility on foreign affairs issues after what has arised in the last couple of years.
First was her overwhelmening support of North Korea after Kim Jong put on that big party in Albright’s honor. She was bragging about that party for years. Next was her criminal actions in against the Serbs during the Kosovo war in 1999. If you don’t believe me look up a book called “Media Cleansing” by Peter Brock. The Clinton administration along with most of the European countries falsified the evidence of why we had to attack Serbia and the actions of the Serbs in the war while they refused to report the actions by the KLA against Serbiana police and civilians. Don’t forget that none of the “peace groups” said a thing about the NATO bombing civilians, so-called dual use sites, and every bridge on the river Danube was destroyed. Lastly Albright is currently a lobbyist in Washington and had very questionable relations with DP World during the debacle.
Don’t forget that Albright as a child was saved from the Holocaust by Serb partisans that helped her stay alive and later escape to America. Later in life she payed back those same people by bombing them to help get Monica off the front page.
actually, the world view is not that simplistic. “good” and “evil” are entirely defined by the country’s attitude towards the US. a human-rights paradise like Saudi Arabia is “good” because their government pretends in public to like us. however, a similarly tyrannical state like Cuba is “evil” because Castro doesn’t bother. The religious tyrants of Iran must be opposed with every fiber of our being, but the religious tyrants of Afghanistan or Pakistan just get a little tut-tutting once in a while, because we need their help in hunting down OBL.
this is not simplistic, but rather cold-blooded realpolitik. dress it up in manichean colors to get Americans’ blood going, but it is really biz as usual. Kissinger once said that US foreign policy _has_ to have a moralizing gloss, else we lose interest. same-same.
Also you can thank Albright for turning Kosovo into a more violent place then it was before NATO attacked. Interpol in Western Europe reports that Kosovo has turned into a narco clearinghouse. Not to mention the base it has become for Islamic terrorists training camps and staging area for future attacks. Kosovo now features widespread violence against Christians and non-Muslims including burning of churches, homes, holy sites, and historical sites all thanks to Madeleine Albright.
Just saw that Madeleine Albright said on “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer” (October 21, 2001) that “I have always believed that Saddam Hussein is part of a major evil aspect in the world.” If you don’t believe that do a Nexis search.
Me
You are still an a**hole. And it isn’t funny how that never changes.
J.S. Scongilli
You must be good friend with Me.
I suppose mass graves of executed Kosovos were all invented by the “western Media”. You read one book by some nut case and think all the world should become holocaust deniers. Are you really trying to convince us that Serbia’s ethnic cleansing of Kosovo was Albright’s fault. Well, I give you credit, You haven’t blamed Clinton.
Just saw that Madeleine Albright said on “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer” (October 21, 2001)
51/2 years ago hardly rates as recent history. Maybe your reflexes are as slow as your brain. I don’t enjoy flaming people but your asinine posts require calling you out. Post the link to Albright’s comment.
I predict there will be a WMD catastophre somewhere in the U.S. in 2007 and the Bush team will blame it on Iran. That will give them WAR with Iran they have been dying for and keep the Replublicans in power in the 2008 elections. I figure there will be somewhere in the 10,000 to 100,000 American casualty range.
In Bush’s black-and-white “You are either for us or against us” world view, i wonder how Russia now fits considering they actively collaborated against us in the Iraq invasion.
Bush has professed his affection for “Heckofajob Vladdy” and has pretty much allowed him to re-install ‘Totalitarianism LITE” with only token verbal objections.
But now, this! Is Putin for us or against us? Is Russia, these days, black or white?
Albright is no dummy, but she dosen’t hold a candle to Rice. I remember reading a comment from a Democratic Senator that if Albright had listened to her father as well as Rice had there may not have had to be an Iraq war.
J.C……I’m a conservative dude, but Kosovo, Bosnia and Serbia were all screwed up before Albright and Clinton got there. I tend to think that 200 to 400,000 dead is actually worse than narco gangs.
Clinton was not a good President as far as I am concerned, but the things that happened in the balkens were not of his doing.
Iraq is a mess, and a lot of the blame has to go on Bush, not, in my opinion for going into Iraq, but for not realizing that plans and reality just weren’t meshing, or allowing himself to be convinced things weren’t as bad as they were/are. His natural tendency to find people he trusts and stick by them has led us to where we are. It’s an admirable trait in a friend, but, as we are seeing, a disaster in a President at war.
There are many, many good things going on in a large majority of Iraq, but in the main cities, where the western press is located now, is where the insurgants concentrate thier efforts, for maximum coverage.
The press is partly to blame for Americans at home becoming frustrated. They almost jumped for joy when they thought we had a civil war about to break out. But, except for the first 8 days after the Mosque bombing, the number of Iraqi deaths aren’t much higher than they have been for the past 11 months. But every death is once again reported like it’s the end of the world as we know it.
We will either hold on and be fairly successful, or we will end up walking away from Iraq like we did Vietnam.
That would be a catastrophe for this country.
>>Alex, way to go back to the fifth grade for that comeback. Of course, that
>>was only a year ago for you, right?
Way to call the kettle black, James Hill. As I scroll back up to the comment Alex was responding to, I see that he was replying in a remedial way; your 3rd-grade taunt about “more liberals not making sense” was as juvenile as any I’ve seen here. Except for your followup comment, which would do any kindergartener proud. What’s next, “I’m rubber, you’re glue”??
If there’s one thing NO ONE has ever accused neocons of, it’s being intellectual giants.
Under the reign of War Hero Bush, America has, in the eyes of the world, truly become a nation of morons.
re: the coverage of the mess in Iraq. yes, on September 11, 2001, why weren’t people doing stories about all the skyscrapers that _weren’t_ being hit by airliners. it gave a distorted picture of the whole thing, really. “America Attacked”? No – just two towers in NYC, one building in DC, and a perfectly empty field in PA. there’s the press for you, blowing the whole thing out of proportion ….
the blame the messenger tactic is an early indicia of policy failure.
No matter how you decide to view things in the world. No matter what your world view is, you still must place things into categories. It’s more important to understand what those categories mean than what the label attached is. Good versus Evil, does that mean Christian values and morals, Islamic, Nealist, Communist values. Each belief system will view a lawful war, lawful defense and other moral issues differently. The end result will not neccessarily include our own suvival, at least as we are currently the United States of America.
If you want to see where an individual stands within your own world view scale then you need to see what their actions are, such as:
Immigration Law = Bush refuses to enforce laws he doesn’t like = He doesn’t respect law or feels he’s above the law.
Human Rights = Jimmy Carter meet with both Tito and Idi Amin and told them both that he agreed with their views on Human Rights = Carter is either a communist or a complete idot or the CIA had no idea both were torturing their own people and killing thousands more.
Human Rights = Albright helped negotiate with/for Kim Jong Il of North Korea nuclear plants and food supplies to prop up Kim Jong Il’s government = She’s either a fellow Stalinist or the CIA did inform her about the Human Rights abuses Jong’s rule had brought about.
National Defense = Bush refuses provide more security at the ports, border, or even over foreign compainies during this “War on Terror” = either he’s not concerned with the affects that a second attack would have on the economy or there is no real “War on Terror” or they somehow know that there will not a second attack.
The labels on the map are wrong, at least if you believe Bush is a Neo-Commie:
Mexico = Union breaking labor
China = Cheap union breaking labor and increased profits for my stock holdings
Europe = Fellow educated specially breed leaders, whoare the only ones to really get it, like the Neo-Cons get it.
Middle East = my in-laws, or my friends that I went to school with, and they have money. Anyway Islam, Christianity what difference does it make. Ramadan is like Christmas right, they’re all the same creator. Just one dies on the cross while the other chops off heads.
Canada = who care’s, no money to be made
Southeast Asia = cheap union breaking labor
Africa = a place to make wash money through stupid investments.
You get the idea, most things with them probably have to do with money, not good versus evil. Just those that don’t have much money and those that do. Guess what we don’t have as much of any more, and it’s the only thing they care about.