Letters to the Editor
captainlarab
Published Letters: 539 Editor's Choice: 41
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New thread, new thread!!
[Read the article: America is not Bush]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Great new Mark Danner piece just posted to Salon.com on the Iraq war. Lots more to talk about there than in this stale old screed of Sidney's. Come on over, Garry, Realitypolitic, dying to hear what you think of it!
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Sorry, not taking this one lying down, European
[Read the article: America is not Bush]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sorry, everyone, I have to break my promise to stop posting here:
I am not one of those Americans who insists we are not a part of European imperialism. Quite to the contrary, I believe we are carrying the torch for you and are to a great extent a continuation of the British Empire. Which is largely why Britain was able to retire from its imperial era so gracefully. Someone else was there to carry the torch for them. You, the Europeans, developed a political model of organizing called the nation-state, a model that worked for you because of your own unique geography, politics and history, and went all around the world forcing other peoples into this model. Even after these peoples gained their "independence," they continued to be forced into a model of political organizing that did not work for them. This is why Africa is a mess, this is why most of the Middle East is a mess. And when you were done with forcing all these square pegs into round holes, you handed off the job to us.
So you can blame us for this idiotic invasion of Iraq. But you cannot sit back and take no responsibility for the past several centuries of colonialism and for the fact that there are oil despots and evil dictators all over the region to begin with. After 9/11 (well, some would say far before 9/11), something clearly needed to change about the way that we (that means you and us) interact with the Middle East. Bush knew that, and he had a vision. It was a phenomenally stupid vision and even more incompetent in its execution, but it was a vision. I heard no vision coming out of Europe about how to fix this longstanding mess. All I heard was knee-jerk contrarianism coming from Jacques Chirac. You made the same mistake the Democrats here do, simply opposing our right wing without presenting a coherent solution of your own.
Again, you don't like us, you don't need what we have to offer, you're certainly entitled to solve the world's problems yourself. You might want to build up your armed forces in order to do so, however.
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Let me take another pass at this
[Read the article: America is not Bush]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Europe, I'm only baiting you because I want you to acknowledge that we're in this together.
Okay, work with me: You and we are part of this collective concept called "Western civilization," which currently seems to wield a great deal of influence on the rest of the globe. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I really couldn't tell you whether Western civilization is "superior" to other forms of civilization, I just know it's what I like because it's what I'm used to.
I believe its light is beginning to fade. That makes me sad, although I understand this makes others happy. Specifically, other civilizations that might also want to take a crack at setting the rules for the rest of the globe, or at least for themselves.
Every civilization needs a certain amount of physical force to enforce good order. Sorry, there's just no way getting around that; there will always be some people who just don't cooperate unless they're staring down a gun barrel. This is the unique service the United States provides largely on its own to "Western civilization" (again, this is that category that includes both you and us). That is what makes us unique in the world. Yeah, yeah, the Founding Fathers are neat too, but if we weren't the most militarily powerful entity in the history of the world I don't think many people would be paying that close attention to what our Founding Fathers had to say. I mean, they were eloquent and thoughtful, but still.
So, you may think that Iraq is our problem to solve, but if you leave us to our own devices to solve it, I dare say we're probably not going to solve it your liking. So when we withdraw from Iraq and the Kurds make a bid for independence and the ethnic Kurds across the border in Turkey join in, and Turkey gets involved, and then all hell breaks loose among the Turkish and Arab immigrants who populate your countries, are you still going to be sitting on the sidelines telling us that this is "our" problem? If so, what happens when we respond, "Sorry, we have no Army left"?
All I'm saying is, you sit on the sidelines at your peril. We're not doing a very good job of doing what you've routinely relied upon America to do. But that's where we are now, and frankly, either you or I could have seen this coming. So where do we go from here, old friends?
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Good point, PoliticalReality, but...
[Read the article: Words in a time of war]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I like this piece just a little bit better than Sidney Blumenthal's piece of yesterday. At least it is a better attempt at articulating and appreciating the scope of the problems that Bush has created. It also echoes my sentiments that terrorists are able to do serious damage to us by using our own strengths against us.
But you're right, it's time for us to think past Jan 20, 2009 and figure out what the hell to do next.
For what it's worth, here's my leftist vision for a positive direction: It starts with me putting solar panels on my roof. In fact, yesterday's discussion prompted me to remind our architect to check on the zoning issues. I can't be president (no, really, I'm terrible with names and I don't network well), but I can personally move myself into a position where I'll eventually care a lot less about who's blowing up what in the Middle East and how it affects my oil supply.