Is Dubya too nice to win the war on terror?

Asia Times ^ | 21 june 2005 | Robert Spengler

[voletti]

"Lonestar, now you see that evil shall always triumph, because good is dumb," said Lord Dark Helmet in the 1987 lampoon Spaceballs.

No Western leader has tried harder to be good, but looked dumber, than America's Lonestar, President George W Bush, over whom evil is about to triumph. His vision is crumbling of a democratic Middle East, with suburban housing tracts and shopping malls spreading across the desert, and mosques that preach something like Methodism. "Many will be the night during his second term that Bush will wish he were still in Texas, and still drunk," I predicted before his re-election, and reiterate the prediction now.

Is Bush personally dumb, or is there something inherently dumb about the good? Exclude the former: every insider account of the Bush White House portrays the president as a crafty operator, very much in control. Besides, now we know that the president earned better grades at Yale than his Democrat challenger, John Kerry. Even if he were dull, clever advisers surround him.

Dark Helmet was right. The United States of America is uniquely good, and thus uniquely dumb. Before addressing that issue, let us define "good" and "dumb" in the context of world affairs.

The American president is a good man, in that he wants the whole world to have the same good things Americans have. "Religious conversion is the defining experience of his life, and it is in his nature to convert others. Because he is a 21st-century American and not a 12th-century Crusader, he preaches the ballot box rather than the cross".

A punitive expedition against Saddam Hussein, followed by side-deals with the Kurds and Shi'ites to secure oil supplies, would have served Washington's "imperial" requirements, had that been the objective. Bush actually believes he is building democracy in the Muslim world.

[voletti]

Read it all. OK, spengl;er might've gone overboard with his 'dumbness' bit. I do sometimes wish we'd bring to bear the full force of US military might against these puny beheaders and jihadi scum who hide behind civilian shields, attack with cowardice and think they're making the Great Satan run away in fright.

I do know that when serious crisis threatens, we will throw away the kid gloves.

[in hoc signo vinces]

I think any writer who qoutes a line from a Mel Brooks movie...then tries to make a polictical statement from it...well, needs to be on meds.

This is pure dren.

[TNCMAXQ]

I think he should be as tough on Chuck Hagel, Dick Durbin, et al as he has been with the terrorists.

[donozark]

"Gentlemen don't win wars. There's too much lipstick and not enough napalm." Burt Lancaster. Movie:Go Tell the Spartans.

[Caipirabob]

My Southern-born mother had a saying which was an open warning to people who's heads she'd "verbally" bite right off. It was simply "Don't mistake Kindness for Weakness. They aren't the same thing."

Of course she never actually got around to telling that to the people who's heads she bit off.

[ncountylee]

I'm with you.

Pick a smallish target that is demonstrably vermin infested and simply obliterate it (non nuclear) without PC concern and then put out one (1) press release and shut up.

The same answer to any statement or criticism is that "abc city was a threat to US servicemen and is no longer. We are pleased that this threat was eliminated without allied casualties!"

"The effectiveness of this tactic will be a future consideration when ever applicable."

[brooklyn dave]

Ironically I agree with you. GW basically is a nice guy who really should get in touch with his inner Machiavelli.

[ncountylee]

I also would like to see a "targeting error" where a Syrian border check point, in a troubled area, is erased.

Suitable apologies but no reparations to follow the unfortunate mistake.

[teawithmisswilliams]

The American president is a good man, in that he wants the whole world to have the same good things Americans have...

Unfortunately, this also explains his open-border-with-Mexico policy.

Sometimes, I think his goodness gets in the way of his common sense, and the duty he owes to this country as Chief Executive to enforce our immigration laws.

[monday]

I always thought the correct action would have been to pound Iraq until the rubble bounced and then say if anyone in Iraq decided to act up again we wouldn't hesitate to come back and do it again.

Spending billions to reconstruct an enemy country and providing security for enemy civilians has always seemed absurd to me. I guess I am not as "good" as Bush, or as "stupid".

To me it has always been obvious that bringing freedom and democracy to Iraqi's would simply be bringing them the freedom to vote themselves into a life of slavery under the Mullahs. They are Muslims. What else would you expect?

Democracy in Iraq will last exactly as long as US soldiers are stationed there. The minute they leave is the minute civil war breaks out. It doesn't matter if it's tomorrow or in 50 years. As far as I am concerned, let them fight it out now. The sooner the issue is settled, the sooner peace will come to Iraq.

[bukkdems]

Spending billions to reconstruct an enemy country and providing security for enemy civilians has always seemed absurd to me. I guess I am not as "good" as Bush, or as "stupid".

Not when you consider the billions of hard earned Western currency that has been poured into the black hole of terror and corruption that is the Middle East for the past 30 years.

[Christopher Lincoln]

Besides the falseness of his fundamental thesis, Spengler makes another grave mistake. He writes:

If suicide bombers drive American troops from Iraq, Bush's "war on terror" will meet an ignominious end. It will, of course, resume before long, but it will be someone else's war.

Withdrawal from Iraq (and Afghanistan) will not in any way end the war. The attack on America (and on the West in general) will continue, and no doubt intensify. If there was ever any doubt of this, 9/11 should have dispelled it. It is not in America's power to end this war, except by annihilating the enemy, or conversely allowing itself to be annihilated. I prefer the first option.

[an italian]

Dubya is the greatest man we could hope to lead us during this war period... I thank him everyday!!!ù

And yes, he's nice... He's even sexy sometimes...