David Seaton's News LinksAlthough born in Connecticut and a failure in the awlbidness (oil business), George W. Bush likes to think of himself as West Texas oilman(awlmayhen). In this disguise his answer to being cornered, broke and friendless, staring utter failure in the face, may be the classic posture of a West Texas oilman: to shoot the works, go for broke, double or nothing. Unless removed from office, this wannabe "cowboy" is still the Commander in Chief of the largest air force and the largest navy in the history of the world and before being a laughing stock, a neocon whipping boy and having his daddy crying in public, (real cowboy's daddy's don't cry in public) he may decide for the "quick draw" and to go out in a blaze of glory. We are looking at one mean SOB and the world's most dangerous man. His answer may very wll be an all out aerial and naval bombardment of Iran. Anybody who thinks Bush will let James Baker lead him away quietly could be terribly mistaken. Below is another wonderful analysis by my hero, William Pfaff, the anti-Thomas Friedman. DS
Iran as Carthage - William Pfaff
Abstract: At the end of November more than a hundred officials and specialists concerned with security in the Middle East were invited to Athens to “solve the security puzzle in the eastern Mediterranean and the broader Middle East,” a challenge which needless to say they failed.(...) Again the profound depth was revealed of the chasm that exists between official American and Israeli perceptions and interests on the one hand, and on the other those of what more than ever seems all the rest of mankind. On the final morning of general discussion, with all subjects on the table, the Israeli delegates, mainly from government or quasi-official institutes, devoted themselves to describing the threat Iraq allegedly poses to the region, and eventually to all of international society. This argument was repeated by the official Americans present, who included the U.S. ambassador in Israel, Richard Jones.(...) This emphasis in Athens on a supposed future Iranian nuclear menace was not surprising, since it has been the main international theme pressed by Israel and the Bush administration ever since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became president of Iran. It has provided a distraction while the American military position in Iraq steadily worsened, and popular support at home shrank for George W. Bush’s war policy. To those of us who still recall traces of their high school history, these officials recalled Cato the Elder, the puritan who hated Carthaginian ways and intoned to the Roman Senate at every opportunity Delenda est Carthago! -- meaning Carthage must be destroyed -- thereby helping bring on the Third Punic War in which Carthage was destroyed. The current version is that Iran must be destroyed. And who knows, Israel or the United States may destroy it before all this is over. The striking thing in Athens, on this occasion, was the total lack of concern displayed for Iran’s threat, real or imaginary, by virtually everyone else in the conference room. The general discussion proceeded on formulating an initiative to stop the fighting between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza, and on the bleak future of Israeli-Palestinian relations, neither seeming a subject of Israeli or American interest. The warnings about Iran were greeted with audience indifference and trips to get coffee. No one even bothered to argue. A recently published Israeli assessment of American opinion, written by a former intelligence official now with a think-tank in the United States, said the same thing about American public attitudes. He told his readers in Israel that the American public today is obsessed with Iraq. It wants a not-wholly-disastrous way to get out. It has no interest whatever in Iran. It feels no threat from Iran. If President Bush were to initiate military action against Iran, the report said, he would be impeached. I can’t speak for the truth of the last comment as I am not currently in the United States. But it certainly seems true that American and Israeli officials, and journalists, for that matter, are whipping a dead horse when they go on and on about Iran. To promote another war of choice in the Near East seems madness to ordinary Americans -- not to speak of ordinary, or official, Europeans. READ IT ALL
Iran as Carthage - William Pfaff
Abstract: At the end of November more than a hundred officials and specialists concerned with security in the Middle East were invited to Athens to “solve the security puzzle in the eastern Mediterranean and the broader Middle East,” a challenge which needless to say they failed.(...) Again the profound depth was revealed of the chasm that exists between official American and Israeli perceptions and interests on the one hand, and on the other those of what more than ever seems all the rest of mankind. On the final morning of general discussion, with all subjects on the table, the Israeli delegates, mainly from government or quasi-official institutes, devoted themselves to describing the threat Iraq allegedly poses to the region, and eventually to all of international society. This argument was repeated by the official Americans present, who included the U.S. ambassador in Israel, Richard Jones.(...) This emphasis in Athens on a supposed future Iranian nuclear menace was not surprising, since it has been the main international theme pressed by Israel and the Bush administration ever since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became president of Iran. It has provided a distraction while the American military position in Iraq steadily worsened, and popular support at home shrank for George W. Bush’s war policy. To those of us who still recall traces of their high school history, these officials recalled Cato the Elder, the puritan who hated Carthaginian ways and intoned to the Roman Senate at every opportunity Delenda est Carthago! -- meaning Carthage must be destroyed -- thereby helping bring on the Third Punic War in which Carthage was destroyed. The current version is that Iran must be destroyed. And who knows, Israel or the United States may destroy it before all this is over. The striking thing in Athens, on this occasion, was the total lack of concern displayed for Iran’s threat, real or imaginary, by virtually everyone else in the conference room. The general discussion proceeded on formulating an initiative to stop the fighting between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza, and on the bleak future of Israeli-Palestinian relations, neither seeming a subject of Israeli or American interest. The warnings about Iran were greeted with audience indifference and trips to get coffee. No one even bothered to argue. A recently published Israeli assessment of American opinion, written by a former intelligence official now with a think-tank in the United States, said the same thing about American public attitudes. He told his readers in Israel that the American public today is obsessed with Iraq. It wants a not-wholly-disastrous way to get out. It has no interest whatever in Iran. It feels no threat from Iran. If President Bush were to initiate military action against Iran, the report said, he would be impeached. I can’t speak for the truth of the last comment as I am not currently in the United States. But it certainly seems true that American and Israeli officials, and journalists, for that matter, are whipping a dead horse when they go on and on about Iran. To promote another war of choice in the Near East seems madness to ordinary Americans -- not to speak of ordinary, or official, Europeans. READ IT ALL
1 comment:
Carthage was a genuine rival to Rome, and Cato, obsessed as he was, was a genuine Roman.
Don't inflate Bush by making such comparisons. He was hired by the public and he can be fired.
I'd go with the Democrats who are going to "look into" the money trail of the no-bid contracts in Iraq. They will soon have enough evidence to impeach, prosecute, convict...
Bush and Cheney are not cowboys or evil geniuses. They are cheap greedy cowards, and they will cop a plea. They will, if properly threatened, cancel the next wars and back out of this one.
Forget about Hillary, for the time being. Pelosi's got the reins in her hands...she needs some encouragement.
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