Me and Andrew
Andrew Bacevich, historian, scholar, was on the Charlie Rose show last night bravely questioning that most dominant of narratives, that US withdrawal in Iraq results in a failed state, regional chaos, ethnic cleansing etc etc.. This is the Bush/ McCain/ Lieberman line which intentionally blurs War onTerror fearmongering rhetoric with actual analysis of geo-politics. Israels Greatest Friend actually qouted Fred Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute in an interview yesterday on NPR. I had a problem with Bacevich's sanitized version of post WWII social forces when he was here in Missoula recently, (he failed to mention the working class Left) but he knows his war history. He learned not just from Vietnam but also from the French experience in Algiers.
In President Bush's interview with Jim Leher he mentioned the sacifices most Americans have made for this war. " I mean, they sacrifice PEACE OF MIND when they see terrible images of violence on TV every night."
Labels: Bacevich
posted by troutsky @ 8:01 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Who is the soothsayer, who can predict the outcome if US withdraws?
Who are the democratic forces, Hitchens talks about, who need protection? Except for the group aligned with Maryam Namazie, where are the democratic forces?
The sad thing is there probably is a small, elite which is secular-democratic but they have no leadership or power.They can be "protected", even relocated, but they can't be empowered by use of force.
As for soothsayers, they have simply constructed this "truth" and Bacevich is the first one Ive seen reject it publicly. Another guest was Kissinger, the Prince of Death,blaming killings in Cambodia after US withdrawal on protesters.Bacevich didn't confront that great lie.
they all sound like baghdad bob
Funny, I don't remember any Algerians following France home after they left...Isn't that the Administration's last best excuse not to leave, that "terrorists" will follow us home and attack us here?
Withdrawal or not, I think it is a reasonable expectation that we will see continued terrorism both there in Iraq and around the world. We've made our bed with shit and so now we are going to have to sleep in it.
My thought is that we should offer our leaders (Bush and Co.) in exchange for the safe passage of our military out of Iraq! Along with Bush, we should send an apology in the form of $$$, since most of the world would only take an American apology to be sincere if it was backed by that which we covet the most: greenbacks!
This illustrates the essential debate,namely, are they fools or demons?
If you seek hegemonic power, ala the corporate elite, you hope to avoid such unpopular and polarizing debacles. If you believe pure authoritarians have usurped elites for power, confudeforeigners logic holds true. If there is some more nuanced synthesis of these two forces (or others as yet unidentified)the dialectic becomes even more convoluted.
My wife believes defense contractors are calling the shots, I have always thought weak states were a goal , not totally failed states.
Fredrick, I don't remember Vietnamese following us home either,in the sense the "soothsayers" are using.Chechens followed the Soviets home in a few instances but i don't believe the Taliban did.
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