This quote from a senior intelligence official in the Bush administration caught my eye, while reading this article in the Washington Post: "The current situation, with regard to governance in Iraq, was probably irreversible in the short term, because of the world views of many of the [Iraqi] government leaders, which were shaped by a sectarian filter and a government that was organized for its ethnic and religious balance rather than competence or capacity."
Does this strike anyone as ironic, as it seems that our government is looking more and more like this assessment? Our leaders are following ideology rather than facts, blinded by their narrow world-view and utter belief that they are right, lacking balance and competence. Bush & Co. continue to ignore the assessments of the Iraq study group and any recommendations by those who oppose their pre-conceived notions, regardless of fact or truth. Our President's continued optimism is a joke and shows us either how blind or how deceptive he really is. He will be asking for us to "just give it more time" until he is out of office and someone else can handle the mess.
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2 comments:
good point. the only nagging thought i consistently have about this is that we are expecting change to happen now. i really don't think that's possible, especially in that culture. yes, i think that culture makes a difference because it defines each individual and the cultural definition in iraq is radically different from ours. the real question is whether or not we should be facilitating that change. i really don't think it's in iraq's best interest for us to have such a heavy hand in that. obviously, bush feels like it's in OUR best interest, despite what he says to the press.
i agree. it is a bad scenario either way. i tend to feel like if we completely leave now there will be genocide, which is certainly worse than civil war. the culture of religious sectarianism is certainly the biggest impediment to a stable democracy. how soon can we expect change, do we shift strategies or just get out? tough questions. my main contention is that bush consistently downplays reality and won't listen to dissenting opinion. it makes everything he says suspect.
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