I read, see and hear claims that 'liberals' and 'lefties' like to make use of crises for their agendas all the time. Realistically, right or left or center, tumultuous public events do provide occasions for more dramatic, less incrementally small changes, for the better or for the worse. This is a lesson of history, and it is not unique to any segment of the political spectrum. That it is practiced and endorsed by the Right is evidenced by Iraq and 9/11.
Well, it turns out that with this most recent recanting of claims of WMD, along with admissions by former Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld which contradict his previous public denials that Bush was interested in going after Sadam Hussein even before the events of 9/11, and used the terrorist tragedy to promote that agenda over the protests of the military.
The release of documents early last fall by the National Security Archive document pretty effectively the abuse of the executive power of the office of the President by George W. Bush to pursue his personal agenda. Bush and his administration appear to make their decisions by simply denying and ignoring the reality of whatever did not support those choices
I remember at the time that 'Dubya' sought war in Iraq stating to a friend that if he was lying about weapons of mass destruction, it would make him one of the most detested, disastrous Presidents in U.S. history. Nothing he can do, no spin, no subsequent efforts to create revisionist history, will make George W. Bush look better in the view of history. Nothing he could do will undo the thousands upon thousands of deaths that his decision to gin up a pretext to invade have caused, or the destructive and destabilizing effect that decision had on the region. There were six more deaths yesterday, per this site and this site devoted entirely to reporting and fact checking claims about deaths in Iraq, both civilian and military, respectively.
That is a lot of death former President George W. Bush carries on his conscience, and it should weigh as well on the consciences of many others who had power and authority in the Bush administration, along with having lied, over and over and over, to the American people and to the people of the world, including our allies. To date, despite all the claims about religious convictions, the only significant person from the Bush administration that I have seen who has demonstrated he has a conscience, and feels badly about these actions, has been former general and Secretary of State, Colin Powell - to his credit.
"Dubya" has faced possible arrest for authorizing torture in Switzerland, and Spain, isn't welcome in the UK, and has faced strong protests in Canada, all for being a war criminal - if the provisions of law, the Geneva conventions, and treaties and precedent were applied fairly. All of these, except Switzerland, are our allies, including through NATO. We have had unpopular presidents before - but never one who cannot travel to friendly foreign countries because of his arguably actions while President of the United States.
One of the recurring thoughts I have had as I watched the unfolding of the largely peaceful revolution in Tunisia and the Egypt, now spreading to Yemen, Algeria, Bahrain, Libya and Iran - so far; there could be more to follow, is that we have been on the wrong side of history in this. And sadly, so long as we have public figures on the Right who still promote and pursue the lies I referenced above, and a militant 'lets invade some more mentality' we are at risk for continuing to be on the wrong side. Going back to Reagan, our government, to be fair under both Republican and Democratic administrations, has sanctioned, endorsed, and given huge amounts of American money to dictators, brutal authoritarian dictators, in multiple countries in the middle east, in Central America and South America, and in Asia, and supported and worked with criminals who were part of drug cartels and terrorists. As a result, ordinary citizens were oppressed by the soldiers of their country, the very military who should have been protecting them. In the recent governmental overthrows, we are in a position similar to that of the Soviet Union when the Berlin wall fell. Those decisions have brought this country to near financial ruin; we have seriously compromised our military's ability to actually defend this country with nearly a decade at war; and we are widely hated in those countries where we have supported the oppressors rather than the freedom to which we give lip service.
What is emerging from these comparatively (if not perfectly) bloodless revolutions in the middle east is that these countries do not, among their populaces, appear to be hell-bent on removing Israel from the face of the earth. They want democracy, they want fair economies which do not benefit only a wealthy and corrupt minority (much the way many of us feel here in the U.S. about our own government), they want transparency not secrecy, and they want a government which does not torture or make people disappear, and they want education for their citizens. These are nations where the overwhelming majority of the population, roughly two thirds, are young (under 30), secular Muslims, many of whom are well educated. The one blessed advantage to the reputation of the U.S. is that it has been our social media, facebook, twitter, youtube, which has aided and supported the success of these movements. Even the much-demonized (in some cases, correctly) Muslim Brotherhood, in Egypt, is supporting continuing the treaty with Israel, and NOT seeking to run candidates or to make the country a theocracy. It is the authoritarian theocracies - like Iran - which are in danger. Thank god we have had Obama reaching out to Muslims rather than fearing them; it may be our only hope for continuing constructive relationship in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, if we have our heads screwed on properly, we will emphatically counter the islamophobes here at home, like the blubbering teary-eyed Glenn Beck and his ludicrous new conspiracy caliphate notions, and recognize instead that we can remain loyal to the existence of Israel and still promote other democracies in the region as our partners, as our allies. We should however stop sanctioning bad behavior by Israel, notably towards Gaza and the west bank Palestinians. I thank god daily that we did not elect that foolish, militant belligerent McCain or his ignorant popsie Palin partner, who are incapable of dealing with the reality of the Middle East.
When they do eventually have elections in Egypt, and when the protests in the other countries do succeed - and eventually the odds are that they will, the elderly tyrants will be out. We can recognize that these countries deserve to elect whomever they like, that they do not require our approval, and we should moderate our comments by public figures - like McCain, but certainly others - accordingly. And in the 2012 elections, we should be looking for those who will more honestly and genuinely support our principles, and not ONLY our interests. We need to oppose dictators, and we need to oppose corruption. And most of all, we need to stop being afraid of Islam, and trust freedom, trust democracy will in fact work - when it is allowed to do so. Muslims are not our real enemy; ignorant old farts and corrupt dictators are, inside our borders and outside them.
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