Comments on: Liberal Hawk Nightmares

By: Crooked Timber » » March, 2003: On the Record

Crooked Timber » » March, 2003: On the Record — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 04:37:50 +0000

[...] 1st. Liberal Hawk Nightmares. … Friedman asserts that President Bush’s plan for Iraq is “the greatest shake of [...]

By: John Steppling

John Steppling — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

I think the Bush folks have a plan…..its just that its based on both greed and faulty delusions about the real world. Their notions of empire….which is a justification, in part, for greed, is also based on some serious ignorance about the legacy of colonialism and the roots of terrorism (i.e.poverty). These people are often imagined as smart think tank policy experts, when in fact they are isolated min-informed ideologues and wonks (and in the case of bush himself and certainly ashcroft, Christian extremists).

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

I think Friedman’s article is correct in suggesting that the impasse in the region can only be broken by a large-scale shock to the already untenable status quo. You know, the “Move Over One” idea (touted in the State Department,) for starters. Maybe it’s just exasperation that produces such planning, but what’s the alternative…constipated low level warfare ad nauseum for the region, combined with economic underdevelopment and corruption…e.g. the Palestinian Authority, the Hussein regime, the House of Saud… The fact that Washington is talking up a Palestinian state again shows that there’s some attention to a broader set of solutions than merely the demise of Saddam. And there may be more to come as a new energy policy in the US comes into effect, easing the US dependence on Saudi Arabia.

By: brian

brian — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

in all this ‘what-a-muddle’ of cold self-interest and wonder geopolitic, maybe – maybe- nothing more is up than summit-level road rage.

“up yours, my legislature said i could”.
“yeh, but i run things my own way here”.
“my people put me in charge of this government, and you’re an dumbshit”.
“oh yah, come outside and say that, cretin”.

who’s big enough to smile and back down?

By: Timothy Burke

Timothy Burke — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

This is the problem with talking about Presidential administrations as if they’re one thing or the other, and can be summed up as a unitary actor.

I think Friedman’s characterizations are spot on when it comes to Wolfowitz and Perle, for example. They really believe, just like some of Kennedy’s people believed, in an abstract geopolitical doctrine in which the invasion of Iraq will produce more democratic and US-friendly regimes throughout the Middle East, a kind of reverse domino effect.

Does Bush personally believe it? Who the hell knows? Probably not. But if you’re going to assert that Bush and others in his administration just want Saddam Hussein gone and nothing but, then you still have to rise to Friedman’s challenge. If you agree with him (as I do) that this is an extraordinary political risk, that this is not the safe play for the maximizing of one’s own political prospects, then you can’t explain this as a “Wag the Dog” scenario. Why are the rolling the dice if they don’t believe in the grand vision Friedman outlines? Why take such an extraordinary risk just to get Saddam Hussein? This is where easy amateur psychologizing about Bush’s revenge motives and suchlike come to the fore, but I find those really unsatisfying.

By: John Isbell

John Isbell — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

I’m sorry, but through all this I still believe that Bush (Rove) started this thinking it was an easy way to get reelected in 2004, and things have spiralled out of hand. The military ease of crushing Saddam blinded them to the diplomatic hurdles. And who’d have thought they’d alienate the world so thoroughly?
My mom knows a secretary to Bush I, who reported him as saying that all great presidents had had wars and he needed one too. Remember his 90% approval ratings? I think Bush II wanted to do this again, and get the post-war spin sorted better. Then: victory in 2004!