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Good Versus Evil Isn’t A Strategy
by Madeleine AlbrightThe Bush administration’s newly unveiled National Security Strategy might well be subtitled “The Irony of Iran.” Three years after the invasion of Iraq and the invention of the phrase “axis of evil,” the administration now highlights the threat posed by Iran — whose radical government has been vastly strengthened by the invasion of Iraq. This is more tragedy than strategy, and it reflects the Manichean approach this administration has taken to the world.
It is sometimes convenient, for purposes of rhetorical effect, for national leaders to talk of a globe neatly divided into good and bad. It is quite another, however, to base the policies of the world’s most powerful nation upon that fiction. The administration’s penchant for painting its perceived adversaries with the same sweeping brush has led to a series of unintended consequences.
The top leaders in the new Iraq — chosen in elections that George W. Bush called “a magic moment in the history of liberty” — are friends of Iran. When the U.S. invaded Iraq, Bush may have thought he was striking a blow for good over evil, but the forces unleashed were considerably more complex.
The administration is now divided between those who understand this complexity and those who do not. On one side, there are ideologues, such as the vice president, who apparently see Iraq as a useful precedent for Iran. Meanwhile, officials on the front lines in Iraq know they cannot succeed in assembling a workable government in that country without the tacit blessing of Iran; hence, last week’s long-overdue announcement of plans for a U.S.-Iranian dialogue on Iraq — a dialogue that if properly executed might also lead to progress on other issues.
re: the coverage of the mess in Iraq. yes, on September 11, 2001, why weren’t people doing stories about all the skyscrapers that _weren’t_ being hit by airliners. it gave a distorted picture of the whole thing, really. “America Attacked”? No – just two towers in NYC, one building in DC, and a perfectly empty field in PA. there’s the press for you, blowing the whole thing out of proportion ….
the blame the messenger tactic is an early indicia of policy failure.
No matter how you decide to view things in the world. No matter what your world view is, you still must place things into categories. It’s more important to understand what those categories mean than what the label attached is. Good versus Evil, does that mean Christian values and morals, Islamic, Nealist, Communist values. Each belief system will view a lawful war, lawful defense and other moral issues differently. The end result will not neccessarily include our own suvival, at least as we are currently the United States of America.
If you want to see where an individual stands within your own world view scale then you need to see what their actions are, such as:
Immigration Law = Bush refuses to enforce laws he doesn’t like = He doesn’t respect law or feels he’s above the law.
Human Rights = Jimmy Carter meet with both Tito and Idi Amin and told them both that he agreed with their views on Human Rights = Carter is either a communist or a complete idot or the CIA had no idea both were torturing their own people and killing thousands more.
Human Rights = Albright helped negotiate with/for Kim Jong Il of North Korea nuclear plants and food supplies to prop up Kim Jong Il’s government = She’s either a fellow Stalinist or the CIA did inform her about the Human Rights abuses Jong’s rule had brought about.
National Defense = Bush refuses provide more security at the ports, border, or even over foreign compainies during this “War on Terror” = either he’s not concerned with the affects that a second attack would have on the economy or there is no real “War on Terror” or they somehow know that there will not a second attack.
The labels on the map are wrong, at least if you believe Bush is a Neo-Commie:
Mexico = Union breaking labor
China = Cheap union breaking labor and increased profits for my stock holdings
Europe = Fellow educated specially breed leaders, whoare the only ones to really get it, like the Neo-Cons get it.
Middle East = my in-laws, or my friends that I went to school with, and they have money. Anyway Islam, Christianity what difference does it make. Ramadan is like Christmas right, they’re all the same creator. Just one dies on the cross while the other chops off heads.
Canada = who care’s, no money to be made
Southeast Asia = cheap union breaking labor
Africa = a place to make wash money through stupid investments.
You get the idea, most things with them probably have to do with money, not good versus evil. Just those that don’t have much money and those that do. Guess what we don’t have as much of any more, and it’s the only thing they care about.