How is the civil war in Iraq,
that is, Sunnis killing Shiites and Shiites killing Sunnis, how is that, as Bush would have it, anything "like last century's fight against Nazis and communists?"
If you are going to start drawing historical analogies, consider our own Civil War, which is more like what is going on in Iraq, I think. Blue vs. Grey. Shiites vs. Sunnis. Irreconcilable differences. Untold horror.
Oh, except during our Civil War we didn't have the world's superpower involved, did we? And I don't think we would have wanted that, would we?
As soon as Rumsfield or Cheney or Bush start talking, I always ask myself: where did these guys go to school? Oh, they went to good schools? Did they sleep through history class, or what?
Sheeh!
I think the answer to that last question is two syllables: par-tay.
Actually, I think W's comment about nazis/communists is a little slippery of him. The strategy that got the US into this Iraq mess was the idea of overwhelming imperial force, which, of course, didn't work. The strategy that has been floated by more rational thinkers has been the classic 20th Century one of "containment". Bush's own, instinctual strategy is the former; now, he's backpedalling. Zbigniew wins out.
Posted by: Michael Nickels-Wisdom | September 01, 2006 at 08:43 AM