Walter C Uhler » Foreign Policy
American Militarism: Part Two (Charles Krauthammer)
In 1990, thirteen years before President George W. Bush made his fateful decision to order an illegal, immoral war of choice in Iraq, prominent neoconservative columnist Charles Krauthammer had helped to pave the way for such wars by writing an article for Foreign Affairs which urged the United States to “unashamedly” lay “down the rules of world order and … [be] prepared to enforce them.” His views were embraced by many influential neoconservatives. In 2001, two years before President George W. Bush ordered an illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq, Mr. Krauthammer blithely asserted, “we are not just any hegemon. We run a uniquely benign imperium.” But, once in Iraq, nearly 4,500 American soldiers died under that so-called “uniquely benign imperium”. And under that “uniquely benign imperium” tens … Read entire article »
Filed under: Bush Administration, Foreign Policy, Iraq War, Media
Republicans and the Iraq War: Ten Years Later
Last October three scholars issued a report, which found that 79% of Republicans were explicit racists (see: http://www.walter-c-uhler.com/?p=666 ). This past January a university poll found that as many as 64% of Republicans could be considered “birthers.” (Most birthers are pathetic racist morons who, obsessed by their need to delegitimize America’s first black president, refuse to accept any evidence which proves that President Barack Obama was born in the United States.) However, both of these morally bankrupt values pale in significance, when compared with the overwhelming support that Republicans continue to give to President Bush’s illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq. Ten years ago this week, President George W. Bush gave the order for American troops to bomb and invade Iraq. From August 2002 … Read entire article »
Filed under: Current Events, Foreign Policy, Iraq War, Media
Fox News, Benghazi and President Reagan
Approximately five years ago I began following Nate Silver’s independent “FiveThirtyEight” blog. Not being a statistician capable of running thousands of computer simulations, I decided to trust a fact-based aggregator of polls whose very reputation rested on making accurate political predictions, rather than rely on a specific poll or the biased estimates of liberal or conservative pundits. Thus, I confidently told a worried African-American friend that, notwithstanding news reports of a tightening race between John McCain and Barack Obama, Mr. Silver was predicting a near landslide victory for Obama. Indeed, Senator Obama trounced Senator McCain in a near landslide. As a consequence, Mr. Silver and his blog were hired by the New York Times, where he eventually directed his poll-aggregating model at predicting the outcome of the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Current Events, Foreign Policy, Media, Politics
Mendacious Mitt Politicizes Benghazi
On November 22, 2011, Mitt Romney’s campaign released an ad that criticized President Obama’s handling of the economy. To support its critique, Romney’s people inserted a snippet from a speech by Obama, which appeared to suggest that even Obama knew that the economy was a losing issue: “If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.” However, when the fact-checkers looked into the ad, they found that it grossly misrepresented Obama’s statement. First, Obama spoke those words on October 16, 2008, three weeks before being elected President. Thus, he could not possibly have been referring to bad economic performance during his time in office. Second, Obama used those words in the course of quoting an admission made by somebody in John McCain’s campaign. Obama’s actual statement reads: … Read entire article »
Filed under: Bush Administration, Current Events, Foreign Policy, Politics
Addressing America’s “Deeper Malignancies”
If you want to know what’s wrong with the foreign policy establishment in the United States, look no further than Condoleezza Rice’s article, “The New American Realism,” published in the July/August 2008 issue of Foreign Affairs.” Not only has the Council on Foreign Relations spread its pages wide open for an infamous interventionist — a lying and deceitful enabler of the Bush administration’s illegal, immoral unprovoked invasion of Iraq – it also readmitted Ms. Rice without requiring anything resembling a mea culpa for the crimes against humanity that have lowered her, the Bush administration and the United States to the depths of moral disrepute around the world. Why publish the words of a liar and alleged war criminal? Who takes her … Read entire article »
Filed under: Bush Administration, Foreign Policy, Iraq War
Scott McClellan’s Residual Affection for Bush (the Psychopath?)
After two weeks of great cuisine and culture in Positano and Rome, I returned to the U.S. only to learn that it’s still news in my country – the United States of Amnesia — when another insider from the Bush administration admits that President Bush eagerly sought war with Iraq. Indeed, the media are falling over themselves in order to cycle, recycle and spin Scott McClellan’s less than startling revelations about warmonger Bush (for whom McClellan retains residual affection). Nevertheless, McClellan deserves credit for his focus on the terrible downside of the “permanent campaign” mentality that afflicts politics in Washington. It goes far to explain why the Bush administration could win elections, but govern so disastrously. However, McClellan’s most banal … Read entire article »
Filed under: Bush Administration, Foreign Policy, Iraq War, Politics
Is the United States of America Addicted to War?
Mikhail Gorbachev is not a frivolous man. He was the Soviet leader who introduced the conceptual breakthrough of “mutual security” to Soviet-American relations, as well as the man who did more than any other individual to bring the Cold War to a peaceful conclusion. (See http://www.thenation.com/doc/20011231/uhler/single) In my opinion, he ranks as the greatest statesman of the twentieth century (something I was able to tell him personally, when we talked in St. Petersburg, Russia in May 2006). So, when Mr. Gorbachev says, “Every US president has to have a war,” and “I sometimes have the feeling that the United States is going to wage war against the entire world,” – as was reported by the Telegraph.co.uk on May … Read entire article »
Filed under: American History, Bush Administration, Foreign Policy, Politics
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