Short snap

The early "official" handover of power in Iraq today qualifies as a slick move. My Iraqi friend is all smiles. As I mentioned before, actual Iraqis are much more hopeful and positive about their country's future than the press would have you believe -- mostly because the press doesn't believe it. God forbid they put a positive spin on a story. It might be mistaken for a pro-American stance, which of course must be avoided at all costs because THAT would be BIASED.

It was outrageous to read comments from people who are struggling desparately to spin whatever negativity they can out of it. "Oh, it's too soon. You're just leaving the Iraqis with the big mess you've caused." Of course, these are some of the same people who for the past several week were criticizing the US for NOT turning over power and letting Iraqis rule Iraq. "It means nothing." I'm curious... what action WOULD mean something (positive) to these people? Probably only GWB's physical demise, I imagine.

I truly hope that Iraqis step up to the task of subduing the bullying murderers that have slipped into their country during the war. The only way to rid the world of these people is for NOBODY to tolerate them.

Salem Pax & Samuel P. Huntington

I was a big follower of Salem Pax's dear_raed blog. One quote he has up there, though, has often bugged me. And not because I'm prone to wallowing in guilt....

"the West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do." - Samuel P. Huntington

Apparently he's got something to do with the Council on Foriegn Affairs. I assume this is being quoted to show what bullies the west has been. Of course, this position completely ignores the fact that the East (Mongolia, China) and the Mideast (Persian empire that went from what, China to Spain at one time?) were all taken by applying superior force in the past. Everyone on the planet lives where they do now because their ancestors took it from someone else sometime in the past.

This quote was probably taken out of context, as I have another quote from him that says

" In this emerging era of cultural conflict the United States must forge alliances with similar cultures and spread its values wherever possible. With alien civilizations the West must be accommodating if possible, but confrontational if necessary. In the final analysis, however, all civilizations will have to learn to tolerate each other." - Samuel P. Huntington

"[the West must] ... spread it's values wherever possible." Doesn't excactly sound like someone who is disaffected with Western values. I'll take his point that North America was taken by force from the native population (which were not always the peaceful people portrayed by today's politically correct take on that population -- they were just as warrior-like as anyone else when it suited them.)

But... that's what propaganda generally consists of: Isolated factiods and quotes taken out of context and assembled into one that serves the propagandist's purposes. Not that all propaganda is bad, but people need to learn to take things with a grain of salt and question what they're hearing ... no matter how good it sounds.

Reading the editorial comments on BBC

This one about sums it up:

The people of Iraq are much more optimistic about their future under democracy than the armchair politicians on this forum. That is more telling of impending success than anything else.
-- Aaron, Munich, Germany

This seems to jive with what I hear from the actual Iraqi's I've talked to.

Something's been bugging me about all this for a long time, and I think reading today's comments cemented what it is. It appears to be more important to the Left how wrong Bush was than what positive steps can and are being taken to make the best out of the currrent situation. It is pretty obvious that no matter what Bush does in the eyes of these people it will be wrong.

Whether it's "pull out now" (give the Iraqi's their soveriegnty) or "don't pull out now" (you'll leave the country in chaos). Elections now, or elections later? No win there. There is absolutely nothing Bush can do to appease the critics who say that the US will install a puppet government short of turning the whole thing over to the laughable UN -- and I don't even think that would work since the only country with grit and commitment enough to do any kind of security there for the UN is the US. Besides, if the US turned the whole thing over to the UN, the criticism would be that the US wouldn't take the responsibility for the "mess" it created.

I have one question for you... who ever said this wouldn't be messy?

I'll say it again. There is nothing Bush can do to appease these people. Any action he takes will be spun into a political argument against him. And there you have the nature of the beast.