Please Cry For Us, Argentina
Although I often lament the insularity of Americans, I have to admit that I am often guilty of the same limited vision. A prime example of this is my surprise at how clearly other parts of the world have assessed what's going on in our country. This op-ed piece, published April 26, 2007 in Argentina's Argen Press, is pretty accurate in its analysis of the current administration.
Bush is the only U.S. commander-in-chief to have initiated one war, only to have lost three. He never managed to catch bin Laden nor destroy al-Qaeda; he failed to defeat terrorism; he wasted the political capital awarded him by September 11th; and public opinion has come to detest him. The nation, once indulgent of his lies - lethal lies for over 3,000 of its own sons and daughters - no longer believes him. No U.S. President has ever harmed his country as much. ...
...George [H.W.] Bush took advantage of Saddam Hussein's erroneous invasion of Kuwait and his eldest son, more reactionary and conservative - and less intelligent -wasted a great opportunity and squandered the enormous political capital engendered by September 11th.
The irrational brutality of this terrorist act, the fact that they struck New York - the most cosmopolitan of the world's cities - where, in reasonable harmony, all races, languages, nationalities and cultures of the world coexist; united by a universal repudiation of such violence, there came unspoken waves of solidarity and affection for the people of the United States.
That spirit of goodwill, together with the economic, scientific and technological superiority of the United States, the influence of its culture, the force of its language and its capacity to promote and even impose its point of view, all gave the United States a unique opportunity to lead a genuine international coalition to confront terrorism.
Bush and his team, in an obvious confusion of visions and paradigms, took the wrong path and opportunistically preferred to seek out circumstantial and petty advantage in connection with controlling Middle East oil - rather than embrace strategies that may have been more legitimate and would have garnered greater consensus.
...Without reason or debate, Bush manipulated the facts, lied shamelessly, and with his allies and acolytes got lost in the labyrinth he now finds himself in.
Jorge Gómez Barata, the author of this piece, has provided a deft analysis of just what happened since Bush took office, right down to the biggest lost opportunity in recent history. The Global War on Terror might have worked, if Mr. Bush and his cronies had been serious about it. Unfortunately, they weren't.
Instead, that "war" was nothing more than a handy excuse for the real war the neocon laden administration really wanted, the one that is costing us several trillion dollars, thousands of American lives, and hundreds of thousands Iraqi lives.
The Argentinians get it, and now, finally, most Americans are beginning to.
Bush is the only U.S. commander-in-chief to have initiated one war, only to have lost three. He never managed to catch bin Laden nor destroy al-Qaeda; he failed to defeat terrorism; he wasted the political capital awarded him by September 11th; and public opinion has come to detest him. The nation, once indulgent of his lies - lethal lies for over 3,000 of its own sons and daughters - no longer believes him. No U.S. President has ever harmed his country as much. ...
...George [H.W.] Bush took advantage of Saddam Hussein's erroneous invasion of Kuwait and his eldest son, more reactionary and conservative - and less intelligent -wasted a great opportunity and squandered the enormous political capital engendered by September 11th.
The irrational brutality of this terrorist act, the fact that they struck New York - the most cosmopolitan of the world's cities - where, in reasonable harmony, all races, languages, nationalities and cultures of the world coexist; united by a universal repudiation of such violence, there came unspoken waves of solidarity and affection for the people of the United States.
That spirit of goodwill, together with the economic, scientific and technological superiority of the United States, the influence of its culture, the force of its language and its capacity to promote and even impose its point of view, all gave the United States a unique opportunity to lead a genuine international coalition to confront terrorism.
Bush and his team, in an obvious confusion of visions and paradigms, took the wrong path and opportunistically preferred to seek out circumstantial and petty advantage in connection with controlling Middle East oil - rather than embrace strategies that may have been more legitimate and would have garnered greater consensus.
...Without reason or debate, Bush manipulated the facts, lied shamelessly, and with his allies and acolytes got lost in the labyrinth he now finds himself in.
Jorge Gómez Barata, the author of this piece, has provided a deft analysis of just what happened since Bush took office, right down to the biggest lost opportunity in recent history. The Global War on Terror might have worked, if Mr. Bush and his cronies had been serious about it. Unfortunately, they weren't.
Instead, that "war" was nothing more than a handy excuse for the real war the neocon laden administration really wanted, the one that is costing us several trillion dollars, thousands of American lives, and hundreds of thousands Iraqi lives.
The Argentinians get it, and now, finally, most Americans are beginning to.
Labels: Iraq War
posted by Diane at 4:11 AM
2 Comments:
Spot on. Thank you.
Couldn't have said it better myself. Actually I couldn't have said it nearly as well.
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