Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Quote of the day

"The threat to men of great dignity, privilege and pretense is not from the radicals they revile; it is from accepting their own myth. Exposure to reality remains the nemesis of the great -- a little understood thing." - John Kenneth Galbraith

H/t E. J. Dionne Jr.

Meanwhile, on the 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and, not incidentally, 5 years after President Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq, President Bush gave a speech today saying that the world is safer because of the war in Iraq. By "safer" he means, of course, that the solidarity the Muslim world felt for Americans after 9/11 has been turned into animosity, that al Qaeda has been able to use the invasion of Iraq as a recruitment tool leading to new franchises of al Qaeda, that the war in Iraq has stretched our military thin and created a debt that generations of future (non super rich) Americans will have to pay for, that a destabilized Iraq has turned the Middle East into a powder keg, that terrorist activity has increased, that suicide bombing has increased, that hundreds of thousands are dead, that the world now considers America a threat to international peace, that our allies believe we are a criminal nation that has turned its back on the principles of human rights which this nation was founded to preserve and protect.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is exceedingly tragic is how little credibility and diplomatic strength the US has left. Rogue nations are not scared to rebuke the US which has no credibility left at all

steeplebob said...

The recent 5th anniversary was of the start of Bush's War, not the "Mission Accomplished" fanfare, though I suppose the difference is negligible.

Hume's Ghost said...

Right. The invasion started in mid March ... the "Mission Accomplished" Speech was May 1. Difference negligible.