Mistaken Reasoning

Submitted by Project2012 (United States), Jun 3, 2003 at 09:19

If breaking promises to Uncle Sam would put a nation on the road to war with America, then by now we would have been fighting half the world.

Here is a list of countries who've all broken promises to America and we have done little or nothing against them:

a) Russia -- still supplies nuclear material to Iran, talks with the PRC about creating a "multi-polar world," coddles the Syrians, exports its organized crime into the USA. Thanks to Condoleezza Rice's genius advice, Russia has essentially been forgiven for its opposition to war with Iraq.

b) People's Republic of China -- does nothing to rein in North Korea, engages in anti-American incitement, engages in active espionage with the USA. Action by the US against PRC: more free trade, more American jobs shipped to the Communist dictatorship

c) North Korea -- develops nukes; broke its 1953 cease-fire numerous times; broke numerous deals with US & South Korea. What's our solution: Appeasement.

d) Mexico -- does nothing to control illegal immigration and drug smuggling; does nothing to secure its borders. Our solution: more free trade

The real reasons for the war with Iraq, in my view, have nothing to do either with oil, or WMD, humanitarian issues (then we should've been in the Congo and fighting the PRC a long time ago), or even broken ceasefires. The war was as much about transforming the Middle East, as it was about showing the world who's boss. It was about us picking an enemy we can beat in accomplishing both of those tasks.

The Middle East "road map" (or, rather, road trap) is meant to accomplish several things:

a) Take the hideous Iraqi quagmire out of the headlines

b) Appease Arabs & the Europeans, for whom Israeli lives and land was the price of acquiscence or support of our Iraq action

c) Help Bush win a 2nd term by winning over American moderates; he can't just rely on his base to win, he needs some independents in swing states to vote for him as well. Even if he ticks off his Christian conservative and neo-conservative base with the "road trap," he's thrown enough bones to both groups to assure their acquiescence come 2004.

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