Letters to the Editor
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Why we are full of it.
Take note:
Arab and/or Islamic democracies in the Middle East: Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine.
Arab and/or Islamic dictatorships in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt.
And we are fighting the foes of democracy, huh? How long are we going to let our leaders make us look like imbeciles?
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Gambling
What the neocons are doing is doubling down. When they first announced the Iraq project, I though, no way that's going to get past us. I was wrong. Of course, everything they said was patently BS, so it is a major catastrophe, tactically and strategically. They've just about destroyed the military, the National Guard is about finished, they're accepting Nazis and defectives along with the patriotic young men and women, so what do they do? They double down. Hey! Lose twice as much!
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Greenwald Should Be President
I'm not sure I've read anywhere a more concise and articulate statement of The Problem. The great thing about nailing The Problem so astutely is that The Solution then becomes clear--less violence, more of the much harder job of actual negotiation and compromise--something that might leave the US with less than the complete control of world resources that the pseudogovernment/corporateshills who now run our government want in order to keep the world's resources directly in their pockets.
I used to wonder whether our leadership suffered from rank stupidity or were simply utterly corrupt. It's become clear that the stupidity required to fuck things up so completely would be of the "special" kind, and it's easier now to discern corruption. But every time I see Bush try to form sentences, the question is refreshed in my mind.
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Not surprising at all ... or unprecedented
War Room write,
Amazingly, the neoconservatives’ response to the patent failure of their warmongering approach is to urge more of the same, just with more intensity and with less restraint.
But it's not amazing and it's not surprising. To do anything else would be to admit that they were wrong. To make such an admission would be to confess to the over-ideological, under-pragmatic, arrogant idiocy that they routinely accuse the "McNamara liberals" of falling into in the 1960s. It would also be an admission that, perhaps, someone else would do as good a job running our foreign policy.
Nor is their attitude without precedent. It's exactly the same mindset that caused the escalation and horrors of the First World War: "Sure, we've lost 20,000 soldiers in a day and gained six inches of territory. But if only we had thrown an additional 1000 men into the fire, we would have broken through and ended the war. What we need is more men...."
That insanity ended only when the armies were exhausted and enough of the idiot generals had died or been sacked. Eventually people came up through the ranks with their eyes forced open by the war, and the tactics changed. 1918 was an entirely different war than 1914-1917.
In this larger conflict, the victor will be the side who first recognizes that new tactics are needed and then adapts to the new situation. Sadly, right now, the West seems stuck in the mindset of the past while its foes -- who are the enemy of global civilization -- seem nimble and adaptible.
It's going to be an interesting century...
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That long-awaited Clash of Civilizations
"It is just one step from there to a clash of civilizations.'"
Glenn, wouldn't you say that the great neo-con "thinkers" are joyous when they see such phrases tossed around by Middle Eastern leaders?
It is amazing that the people of the U.S. have given control of our weapons, as well as our reputation, to a group that actively seeks such a "clash of civilizations."
--WKW
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I'm of course reminded......
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Benjamin Franklin
The real insanity is the accusation that the reason we're not succeeding is because we're not doing ENOUGH killing. It feels like being treated by a doctor in the Middle ages. If the patient doesn't improve then more bloodletting must be prescribed!
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Neocons suck but
Actually, violence on a monumental scale is probably the only solution at this point. I can't picture another way to resolve the conflict(in US favor)any other way. It seems to be the only effective means at gaining/keeping control over these Mideast sects, examples found with Syria and Saddam. Harsh statement, but would you have al Sadr in charge(too late?)? Maybe this fact is exactly why the US was destined to fail(besides the neocon's strategy), meaning our inability to allow our gov't to be ruthless in our tactics(a reason to be proud).
I would like writers to stop using demonstrations in Iraq against Israel/Hezbollah war as examples of anything but ridiculous. They've got their own fucking war at home. A 100,000 people should have been rallied to improve the living conditions in the city.
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Personality defects
I think that quote about insanity should be attributed to Einstein and not Benjamin Franklin.
While on the topic of mental illness, I do believe that the neocons behavior makes sense when one looks at how many of them have addictive personalities. Pain killers, alcohol, gambling. Especially the gamblers. They double up instead of stepping back and looking to see if what they are doing is yielding the hoped for results. Investors use the term double up to mean to add to an existing long or short position, after a move opposite that which was hoped for, in order to multiply by two the impact of subsequent changes, in the belief that the move in the wrong direction is temporary and short-lived.
It often leads to bankruptcy.
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what a great piece
I agree with many of the other letter writers - I have yet to see a single article or post as accurate, insightful, and damning as Glenn's. Great job Glenn.
What an amazing way to sum up why "macho" politics doesn't work in the Middle East. Yeah - you get the Toby Keith vote with the "KILL THEM ALL" approach to terrorism - you just also get a million more terrorist wanting to "KILL THEM ALL" - meaning all of us Americans.
Randy
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We need old props from movies about Rome
At this point in the debate, there are only two ways to see things:
1. There is a majority or significant minority who believes that violence and war is the answer or
2. The average American doesn't understand or isn't paying attention to how much advocacy there is in our leadership for more war.
My feeling is that the latter is more probably than the former and feel that a simple change of costume would explain everything quite nicely.
We Americans have a tendency to associate dress with periods of history. There are the coattails and wigs associated with our founding fathers, peasant dress with the French Revolution and togas with Caesar, Rome, and Russell Crowe in the Gladiator.
When we watch Gladiator, we have no trouble seeing the evil with which war makers revel. It's clear that a foreign occupying force is accomplishing their goals in Israel and the region though military might and that more or less, those guys are the bad guys.
So put the neocons in togas. Give them laurel wreaths to wrap around their heads and give them all English accents. I bet if you did that, your average American, too busy to pay attention to most bureaucrats will instantly get which team we are.
We are now an Imperialist nation. Those that rally against it see it as so. Since we seem incapable of understanding that Rome was eventually sacked by a much weaker and less sophisticated enemy (Germanic tribes, IIRC) despite being the overwhelmingly dominant military force at the time, it seems prescient to remind the people that their elected are taking us down the same path of religious wars that the Romans fought.
In our days of dumbed down culture - where the masses _need_ to understand the gravity of our current situation, what better way than to take today's rhetoric and combine it with the arrogant war machine symbology of the Roman Empire?
It'd be like Wag the Dog: a movie that speaks to the current times by adopting a fictitious lens through which to view ourselves.