Lead-in Quote to Post Below
The speed with which armies collapse, bureaucracies abdicate, and social structures dissolve once the autocrat is removed frequently surprises American policymakers.
--Jeane Kirkpatrick
May Peace be Upon Her.
--Jeane Kirkpatrick
May Peace be Upon Her.
posted by Praguetwin at
8:30 PM
11 Comments:
Now, if we could rebuild them as quickly...
Then again, if the civil dynamic was that easy to construct you'd think we'd have come up with something better by now. As it is, we have struggle along and hope that we can dismantle the corrupted social structures before they cause too much irrevocable devestation.
By
Mark, at 6:48 AM
If memory serves correct, Kirkpatrick - like many other Republican apparatchiks with loyalty only to the Elephant - vigorously supported the Iraq war and took part in the tarring of any war critic as a "cut-and-runner" and/or "defeatist".
Here's a link to Mean Jeane justifying George W. Bush's war in April 2003 before everything went wrong:
http://www.counterpunch.org/kirkpatrick04252003.html
And here's a link where she signs a letter to the preznut with other fellow neo-cons on September 20, 2001 that in part states "even if evidence does not link Iraq directly to the attack, any strategy aiming at the eradication of terrorism and its sponsors must include a determined effort to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. Failure to undertake such an effort will constitute an early and perhaps decisive surrender in the war on international terrorism." Other signers of the letter include Bill Kristol, Robert Kagan, Bill Bennett, Charles Krauthammer, and Richard Perle:
http://www.newamericancentury.org/Bushletter.htm
Finally, here's Mean Jeane helping sell the future Iraq war to the masses on the Oprah Show. She claims Saddam may have had something to do w/ 9/11:
http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/tows_past_20011001_d.jhtml
To my mind, Kirkpatrick is one of those hypocritical ideologues who would have been screaming bloody murder had a Dem pursued the nation-building policies that her guy Bush pursued. But since the war had a GOP stamp on it, she was happy to sell it.
Former GOP Congressman and current Bush administration critic Joe Scarborough has noted something similar on his TV show. Many Repubs who supported for this war and apologized for all the admins fuck-ups would have gone apeshit had a Carter or Clinton admin been the perpetrators.
By
Reality-Based Educator, at 1:02 PM
Mean Jeane she was, and you are right RBE.
The reason I use her quote is just that: she supported the war but the folley of it is right there in her own rhetoric.
By
Praguetwin, at 1:28 PM
Stephanie,
I think we are way past that point now. That is a job for the Iraqis. I wish them luck.
By
Praguetwin, at 1:29 PM
PT,
Of course it is job for the Iraqis, however, it is ou job too. We are responsible for the mess and we are responsible for the clean up.
Notwithstanding the fact that Saddam Hussein was one of the true monsters of both the 20th and 21st centuries, I always opposed the invasion of Iraq b/c it was perfectlt foreseeable that what is is happeninhg would happen.
The U.S. mistakes are manifold, although I think there were 2 glaring ones: The invasion force consisted of too few troops and failed to secure, inter alia, Iraqi weapons depots, thereby allowing the entire country to become an armed camp.
Secondly, the administration under L. Paul Bremer was farcical in its ineptitude. Read "Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone" by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington PostAssistant Managing Editor and former Baghdad Bureau Chief. Read it and weep.
I agree w/ Mr. Bush when he intones we cannot afford to fail in Iraq.
For better or worse, the United Staes is the world' only superpower--China is not there yet--and w/ power comes responsibility. If we are ver to succeed in situations when we should become involved--see the genocide in Darfur--we must prove that we are not sea gull managers.
Cheers,
T
By
Anonymous, at 6:24 PM
the thought of Kirkpatrick in hell (hanging out with Friedman and Pinochet) helps me sleep at night
By
Graeme, at 7:25 PM
...and social structures dissolve once the autocrat is removed frequently surprises American policymakers.
Should we apply that to Iraq? Or the United States?
By
Anonymous, at 1:34 AM
"That is a job for the Iraqis."
Rebuilding maybe for the Iraqis, but my second paragraph was more about the US. Looking back...there are absolutely no clues to that, though.
By
Mark, at 5:03 AM
Tony talks about "responsibility for the clean up" but these patriots and neocons are all to happy to destroy a village in order to save it. I think first it is necessary to get the bull out of the china shop before you start repairs. Kirkpatrick only backed "free market" dictators and tyrants.
By
troutsky, at 4:00 PM
Tony,
I think that security is the American's responsibility, but reconstruction has to come from the Iraqi side.
The Iraqis were much more effective in rebuilding after Gulf 1, Iraqi efforts to reconstruct will have less chance of being attacked, and Iraqi expertise must untilized and the Iraqi people must be put to work.
Certainly funding could be from the U.S. or other members of the international community, but the projects themselves should be run and manned by Iraqis.
Clearly Bremer's reign and failure only underscores that point.
Indeed the U.S. as the only remaining superpower should be doing the right thing--like in Darfur--but of course the U.S.'s motives are much less than altruistic and thus intervention is likely to further alienate and enrage the very people that we are ostensibly trying to help.
By
Praguetwin, at 7:15 PM
Graeme,
Thanks, that made me laugh.
Kvatch,
Good question. Take your pick.
Toutsky,
Indeed, democracy is desirable to Kirkpatric et. al. so long as the people pick the right leaders. Look what happens when they pick the wrong ones: Chile, Nicaragua, Palestine.
I think most of the world would like it if we stoped trying to "help."
By
Praguetwin, at 7:19 PM
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