a berlin blog
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a berlin blog |
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Wednesday, November 05, 2003 Selfless, liberal, radicalSince the start of the Iraq war we've heard all kinds of things about Bush from his defenders, including that the invasion was a liberal and radical act (Tom Friedman), not to mention risky and selfless, in the sense that Bush was staking his whole presidency on success (Andrew Sullivan). It was sober, gutsy, necessary. From the president himself we hear that America will pilot a grim and steady forward course until we've finished the job. Great! Right? I mean, a free and democratic Iraq. That's what I want too, even if I don't vote Republican. Count me out of that idiot tribe of Democrats who in their hearts seem to love Saddam Hussein — so eloquently cut down last week by an angry Roger Simon ("Haven't they seen the videotapes of Baathists chopping their own countrymens' heads off and pushing them off roofs? Haven't they seen the unmarked graves of children? What’s going on with these people?") — wherever those idiots might in fact be.Look, we all know Saddam's evil; we're all glad he's out of power. I was even, reluctantly, in favor of the war. The sticking point is Bush's honesty. Our failure to find those nasty weapons proves that the war could have waited until we'd cajoled and flattered the Germans (if not the French) and a few wealthier members of the U.N. into joining the dogpile on Saddam. But that would have meant waiting at least six or eight months, past the hot summer, until the end of Ramadan in December — which is bad timing for a presidential victory in 2004. So our big hurry was Bush's election cycle. And now some people (even some neocons, after all those warnings against an "exit strategy") want to speed up Iraqi police and military training for the same reason. (Read the whole thing.) Everyone knows Iraqis in uniform are a sign of progress; but Fareed Zakaria writes that if those uniforms amount to a hurried-up exit strategy to let Bush declare victory by mid-2004, leaving Iraq with ragged, ineffectual soldiers and cops, all the shining things Bush promised from this war will end in stinking wreckage. Andrew Sullivan was right: Bush did stake his presidency on Iraq. But he's not facing that risk like a man. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 12:33 AM | |
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