Even if Bush knew they were all good guys, he would still not be excused for ignoring our laws and Constitution and orderly immigration. He has failed the citizens of the US in his shortsighted outlook. To some extent, do you think he has rose colored glasses about Islam as a whole?
vaudine
“To some extent, do you think he has rose colored glasses about Islam as a whole?”
Personally, I believe there is a systemic series of misconceptions at all level of the federal gov’t, starting with the President and right on through to the Pentagon and State Department.
The first misconception is a belief that all people are alike and want the same things, and want them in the American/Western fashion. To a certain extent, this is true, however, The real question is at what point does the wholesale adaptqation of Western Cvilization become uncomfortable, or dangerous, to non-Western Cultures? I’m sure if you asked your typical Iraqi if he wanted indoor plumbing, good education, plentiful food and cable TV, he’d say: HELL YEAH. But, what happens when the the process of obtaining these things requires that his cultural and religious beliefs come into conflict with some of the esoterics that these things bring with them? A good education, for example, might weaken belief in Islam. Cable TV has the ability to inform or arouse public discontent, when it it isn’t beaming Brittney Spears’ belly button into your living room and corrupting your children.
The next problem is the tendency to seemingly believe every ex-patriate of any sh*thole on the planet that comes, hat-in-hand, claiming that there is ‘a democracy movement’ in his country, and then committing American support, material or moral, to this cause. We’ve been hearing about democracy movements in Iran, China, South America, and a dozen other places that never seem to materialize.
Of course, there’s the realpolitik at the other end of this spectrum; the circumstances that can cause Brent Scowcroft to say, with a straight face, that fostering democratic movements in the Middle East would endanger the “stability” of the region. Actually, the issue is one where prinicples bump up against reality; “stability” in the sense of criminal governments in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other oil-producing countries is bought and paid for not only with Yankee dollars, but with repression to which we, the guardians of liberty, turn a blind eye. To make a decision, to fight oppression or to allow to continue in our own selfish, economic interests, is too tough a call to make for them.
The final problem is the fear, which is palpable, of the American government to act in it’s best interests if doing so might be considerd unseemly, especially if it’s in front of a television camera. Nations which fail to act in their own best interests have a nasty way of ceasing to be nations.
I don’t believe the problem is ‘rose-colored glasses’ as much as it is an inability to make tough choices taken in a spirit of national interest.