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Bush himself may well be an idiot, a silly marionette used to distract our attention. If so, then the puppet masters, who have set foreign and domestic policy, are brilliant. One way or another, at least someone in administration has some brains.
While I strongly disagree with almost every single policy of the last seven plus years, I’m not blind to the fact that these policies have been for the most part, quite deliberate, purposeful, and several have shown some level of being well thought out.
Just think about how radically our country’s policies, both foreign and domestic, have changed in the last seven years. Look at the breadth of policy changes. Also remember that for several of those years, a large percentage of our citizens have been all too happy to drink the Kool-Aid. So far, even those of us completely against current policy, have done little more than grumble about it.
I think that far too often, we fall victim to dismissing those with opposing views, as being just stupid trolls. This administration has been an excellent example of how damaging it can be when we underestimate our adversaries.
It wasn’t until I came to the realization that the people setting our foreign policies are in fact smart people, that realized how preposterous it was for me to believe that they could have set so many utterly wrong strategies and policies. Even figuring in Murphy’s Law, it’s near statistically impossible to make so many horrible decisions in a row. They must have a reason behind their actions. The only logical conclusion, at least to my mind, is that their true goal is different from what they have stated.
In a nutshell, it is all about oil. Armies, and whole economies, run on oil. Oil is a diminishing, non-renewable commodity. Developed and developing countries will use an ever increasing amount. What is it they say, twenty years from now, the size of China’s economy will eclipse our own, making it the biggest in the world? Don’t forget that cheap car they just introduced in India.
Even if the US completely stopped using oil tomorrow, it would still be a strategic commodity. Oil may well be the Achilles heal of our future enemy. If we can cut the flow of oil, we can starve their military machine, and crush their economy. All without setting boots on the ground.
If we were to create a cheap, clean, renewable, energy source tomorrow, and release it to the world, oil would loose much of its strategic value. All armies and economies would migrate towards the new energy source. Military and industrial advantage would go to the country with the largest economy, and population, i.e. not the US, twenty years from now. All advantages would go to Indo-China, traditionally (last hundred plus years) thought of as one of the poorer areas of the world.
I have come to believe that they are still fighting Communism, and are aiming to provide us with a strategic advantage, if in the future we were to battle China. It’s why Bush feels that future generations of Americans will look back and compare him with Lincoln. (I still don’t get the analogy)
While I don’t personally believe this to be the best strategy for us to take, I am able to see some value and logic behind it. The strategy is misguided, not stupid.
Gawd, I hate to defend what seems to me at times to be so utterly indefensible.
I think that I just figured out the Lincoln analogy. In their minds, Bush’s actions today will save us from becoming slaves to Communism tomorrow. I sure wished they worried as much about the fascist threat.
#17 – I second that. Let’s get past it and look forward to what we have to do to fix the fuck-ups.
#28, Lying Mike,
I’ve searched and I have found no evidence of ANY charges being laid before the April 28 2004 60 Minutes story. Since you are so well aware of this, why don’t you post a source to back up your contention.
Boy you must have searched really hard.
(AG) 20 March CNN reports: Six U.S. soldiers have been charged with offenses related to the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at an Iraqi prison, the U.S. Army said Saturday.
An investigation was ordered in January, and this report was probably the primary source for the media articles.
I have no idea which press conference I was referring to, I just heard Fred Barnes mention it on TV.
#31 – So far, even those of us completely against current policy, have done little more than grumble about it.
I make less than $500K annually, and I had a son out of wedlock, so I won’t be running for political office.
So what else can I do? I stay informed. I vote. I participate in the public dialog. I write my elected officials. I volunteer for Democratic candidates. I’m not quite ready to take up arms against our oppressors, but I’m close…
we fall victim to dismissing those with opposing views, as being just stupid trolls.
I never said they were trolls.
‘Tis the season:
http://tinyurl.com/25g3ba
>I make less than $500K annually, and I had a son out of wedlock, so I won’t be running for political office.
Why should that stop you? If he does his taxes the way I suspect, then Pat Robertson met both criteria when he ran for President.
Yeah, and the could make it a realistic mobile with the statues balls lighting up a night !!!
#39 – Okay… I’ll run… But only if YOU manage my campaign.
#37 OhForTheLoveOf, I’m not trying to single you out. I’m as guilty as anyone of automatically questioning the intelligence of those who disagree with me. I just wanted to help point out that far too often that knee jerk reaction probably illustrates my own lack of mental acumen more so than the ignorance of my opponent.
What can we do about the last seven years of policy? I’m ashamed to say, I’m just not smart enough to figure that out. That’s why all I’ve done is grumble about it.
>> # 11 MikeN said, The Army announced prosecutions for Abu Ghraib weeks before the pictures got leaked to the press, yet people still think this was some sort of crime that the media exposed. In war there are war crimes, and this was punished just as others are.
Yeah, couple of low level “bad apples” took the fall while the authorities who ordered it get off scott free.
What an incredibly sad state Bush and Rumsfeld let our military in to. Any many conservatives are still in denial about it.
#36, Lyin’ Mike
So where is the cite? Just posting something does not verify it. I have no idea where you got that “news clip” from or its veracity. For all I know it came from LyinMike.com.
Fred Barnes likes his bullshit more than he likes his facts. He is just another right wing nut that wouldn’t know a truthful fact if it bit him in the arse.
If you were serious about searching, you could find it. Try Abu Ghraib timeline.