It's not Iraq, it's not Iraq, it's not Iraq...
August 29, 2005News & Politics
(Whenever some new document is unearthed it's always fun to review what the rightwing blogs and screamers had to say about a given event.)
As an aging demagogue on dialysis Osama bin Laden is impotent (the same goes for other leaders as well, healthy or infirm). As an aging demagogue on dialysis with the ability to recruit from a massive pool of young Muslims pissed at British-American foreign policy, he's significantly more powerful.
A see no evil, hear no evil public policy is dangerous and stupid -- surely everyone can agree on that. With Bush and Blair and the Right, the evil they want us to see (that Saddam had WMD and had ties to terrorists) never actually existed. Unfortunately we now know that another evil, the boost we've given to terrorism recruitment, does.
Bonus irony: As we boost terrorist recruitment Bush's policies have decimated recruitment in the American armed forces. Nice.
The latest leaked documents show that Tony Blair -- Bush's war buddy who, along with Australia's John Howard, denied that the 7/7 and 7/21 Londing bombings had anything to do with Iraq -- was warned by the top official in his Foreign Office that in fact Iraq was a major cause of Muslim anger and resentment.
According to the Observer, the letter warned that:
"British foreign policy was a 'recurring theme' in the Muslim community, 'especially in the context of the Middle East peace process and Iraq.'"The letter goes on to state that:
"'Experience of both ministers and officials ... suggests that ... British foreign policy and the perception of its negative effect on Muslims globally plays a significant role in creating a feeling of anger and impotence among especially the younger generation of British Muslims.'"And this cuts right to the heart of the argument about what's behind Arab/Muslim terrorism in the West. Bush, Blair, Howard, and the numbskulls at the National Review -- as well as a host of bootlicking bloggers -- would have you believe that terrorism is caused by evil. That it's removed from policy. Or else, if it is related to policy, their contradictory logic goes, should we really listen to these evil people and change it?
(Whenever some new document is unearthed it's always fun to review what the rightwing blogs and screamers had to say about a given event.)
As an aging demagogue on dialysis Osama bin Laden is impotent (the same goes for other leaders as well, healthy or infirm). As an aging demagogue on dialysis with the ability to recruit from a massive pool of young Muslims pissed at British-American foreign policy, he's significantly more powerful.
A see no evil, hear no evil public policy is dangerous and stupid -- surely everyone can agree on that. With Bush and Blair and the Right, the evil they want us to see (that Saddam had WMD and had ties to terrorists) never actually existed. Unfortunately we now know that another evil, the boost we've given to terrorism recruitment, does.
Bonus irony: As we boost terrorist recruitment Bush's policies have decimated recruitment in the American armed forces. Nice.
