Monday
Aug212006
The Emperor Bush and his clothes
By Ellen Ratner
President Bush has not had a good week, even his friends are starting to say, ''The Emperor has no clothes,'' especially as it pertains to the Iraq war and the deteriorating Middle East security situation.
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich spoke in a no holds barred interview with Greta Van Susteren on Friday evening saying, ''I think we ought to have the nerve to look it in the eye and understand. We were just defeated in a small war by Iran, Syria, and the terrorists in Hezbollah.''
Speaker Gingrich went on, ''What I find worrisome is that the administration is convincing itself this is a victory. The administration is saying Hezbollah was defeated. I don't see any evidence that Hezbollah or Iran or Syria see this as anything but a great victory. And so I think the administration is frankly completely out of touch with reality in south Lebanon right now. I don't understand why and I don't understand what's going on at the State Department and the White House that would lead them to be this far away from the real world.''
Then came Senator Chuck Hagel on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace. He said, ''We don't have any good options. We've got a mess on our hands in the Middle East. We've got two wars. We just lost four Americans yesterday in Afghanistan. Things aren't going well there. We've got a peace in Lebanon that is barely holding. '' Senator Hagel favors direct talks with Hezbollah, Iran and Syria.
What both men alluded to is what is obvious, the traditional methods of war are not working here and the administration is insisting on a strategy that panders to its base but has no basis in reality.
Nineteenth-century military theorist Karl von Clausewitz wrote that war is an extension of politics by other means. Yet the Bush administration is unable to use war to achieve any type of political victory except within its own territory. The cost of the Iraq war is over $308 billion dollars and tens of thousands of lives, but peace has never been further away. Sectarian violence has been at an all-time high in July. According to the August 15 edition of the New York Times, over 3,400 Iraqi civilians died in July – 110 per day.
Newt and Chuck are stating the obvious about Lebanon. There is a domino effect taking place in the Middle East and it's not a tip towards ''pro western democracies.'' Hamas won the election in Israel back in January. Most recently Hezbollah has wounded Israel's reputation as arguably one of the finest militaries in the world. The only one saying Israel won is George W. Bush. Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is invoking the destruction of Israel as often as Bush invokes the War on Terror. The difference is that Mahmoud can buy and ship a lot of Qassam Rockets with oil steadily above $70 a barrel and he seems to be quite adept at war by proxy given Iran's influence in Iraq and Lebanon.
There was a famous bumper sticker in the 60s that said, ''War is not healthy for children or other living things.'' It looks like other living things includes George Bush's political career.
President Bush has not had a good week, even his friends are starting to say, ''The Emperor has no clothes,'' especially as it pertains to the Iraq war and the deteriorating Middle East security situation.
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich spoke in a no holds barred interview with Greta Van Susteren on Friday evening saying, ''I think we ought to have the nerve to look it in the eye and understand. We were just defeated in a small war by Iran, Syria, and the terrorists in Hezbollah.''
Speaker Gingrich went on, ''What I find worrisome is that the administration is convincing itself this is a victory. The administration is saying Hezbollah was defeated. I don't see any evidence that Hezbollah or Iran or Syria see this as anything but a great victory. And so I think the administration is frankly completely out of touch with reality in south Lebanon right now. I don't understand why and I don't understand what's going on at the State Department and the White House that would lead them to be this far away from the real world.''
Then came Senator Chuck Hagel on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace. He said, ''We don't have any good options. We've got a mess on our hands in the Middle East. We've got two wars. We just lost four Americans yesterday in Afghanistan. Things aren't going well there. We've got a peace in Lebanon that is barely holding. '' Senator Hagel favors direct talks with Hezbollah, Iran and Syria.
What both men alluded to is what is obvious, the traditional methods of war are not working here and the administration is insisting on a strategy that panders to its base but has no basis in reality.
Nineteenth-century military theorist Karl von Clausewitz wrote that war is an extension of politics by other means. Yet the Bush administration is unable to use war to achieve any type of political victory except within its own territory. The cost of the Iraq war is over $308 billion dollars and tens of thousands of lives, but peace has never been further away. Sectarian violence has been at an all-time high in July. According to the August 15 edition of the New York Times, over 3,400 Iraqi civilians died in July – 110 per day.
Newt and Chuck are stating the obvious about Lebanon. There is a domino effect taking place in the Middle East and it's not a tip towards ''pro western democracies.'' Hamas won the election in Israel back in January. Most recently Hezbollah has wounded Israel's reputation as arguably one of the finest militaries in the world. The only one saying Israel won is George W. Bush. Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is invoking the destruction of Israel as often as Bush invokes the War on Terror. The difference is that Mahmoud can buy and ship a lot of Qassam Rockets with oil steadily above $70 a barrel and he seems to be quite adept at war by proxy given Iran's influence in Iraq and Lebanon.
There was a famous bumper sticker in the 60s that said, ''War is not healthy for children or other living things.'' It looks like other living things includes George Bush's political career.
tagged benjamin netanyahu in News/Commentary
Reader Comments (1)
How do I get a copy of the Greta Von Sustern interview (Part 2) with Newt Gingrich from last night? (September 30)